You and Me make We
by Pencilfreak17
Summary: Shikamaru is the lazy yet somehow one of the top five popular boys at his high school in Konoha City, his life is already troublesome with the fangirls constantly bothering him and being surrounded by idiots. His life couldn't get more meddlesome - that is until the Sand students decide to swing in and transfer schools. Meet the clash of Shikamaru and Temari!
1. Transferred Sand Students

**This is my first time trying out a fan fiction. I didn't know at first what I should really write about, until I decided to go along with a ShikaTema story. (I've always found them a sweet couple! 3) So I hope this story turns out alright, I really don't mind if this isn't well liked, just as long as I get a chance to improve my writing and have a ShikaTema story of my own, I hope some of you guys out there will like it! Again, this is my first time trying out something like this, and I hope it turns out well. Thanks!**

**(I don't own these characters, they all belong to Masashi Kishimoto!)**

**Just to help understand the story, I changed their setting to more of a modernized high school environment; I can't really recreate a story suited to their ninja story as they originally should be, but since this is just a love story between Shikamaru and Temari, I thought it'd be easier for me to just place them in high school so I wouldn't struggle to recreate the ninja world around them that is extremely hard to do, not to mention it's Kishimoto's story, not mine. This is purely fan fiction, based off my knowledge of the manga Naruto, I hope the characters appear realistic to what they are in the real story and if not, feel free to point this out and help me improve story if you plan to follow this story. Again, I'd appreciate any support and since I'm new to this website and fan fiction writing, I hope I don't disappoint anyone with a bad story line. Thanks again and I hope you enjoy.**

* * *

**Chapter 1: Transferred Sand Students**

Shikamaru laid back against the grass, sighing in the wind as the warm rays of the sun bathed him in its golden streaks. He lazily opened his eyes again to watch the clouds roll across the blue sky, contently enjoying his solitude as he observed the clouds soar freely against the sky. He listened to the birds sing as they darted in and out of his sight, flying higher up to the clouds each time he saw them. "Must be nice … to be so close to the clouds …" Then he closed his eyes again, happily content with the quiet field he had resolved to rest in …

"HEY! SHIKAMARU! FINALLY FOUND YAH!" He sighed. He reopened his eyes to see Naruto grinning standing over him.

"What do you want Naruto? I just want some peace and quiet for once …"

Naruto laughed as Shikamaru got to his feet.

"We were looking for you of course! Sasuke is back from his trip to the Sand, I thought you'd be interested to greeting him, it's Sasuke after all." Shikamaru shrugged, yawning as he glanced back up at the clouds.

"Oh. He's back already? Nyeh, guess it wouldn't hurt to say hi …"

Naruto grinned and turned to shout back to the others approaching on the field.

"HEY GUYS! SHIKAMARU IS COMING WITH US! LET'S HURRY TO THE TRAIN STATION TO MEET SASUKE!"

Kiba wheezed as he reached the two at the top of the hill.

"Geez Naruto! You could've told me that earlier before I wasted my energy climbing this stupid hill … typical of Shikamaru to find such a reclusive place all to himself. I'm surprised Naruto even found you."

"NARUTOOOOO! SHIKAMARUUUUU! KIBAAAA! GET YOUR BUTTS DOWN HERE AND LET'S GO ALREADY!"

Ino waved at them from below, standing beside Sakura and Choji. Naruto and Kiba ran down the hill to meet up with the rest and Shikamaru gave the clouds one last longing look before turning to follow the others with a sigh.

"Geez … I wanted to spend just a little more time here … how troublesome."

They picked up Hinata and Neji along the way to the station, the group as lively as ever.

"Hey Sakura, I bet you're all happy to see Sasuke again!"

Sakura blushed and punched Naruto on the arm.

"S-Shut up idiot! Of course I am! Sasuke is our friend after all."

Ino smirked at Sakura before adding, "To you at least, now that Sasuke is back, I can have my chance to finally have a relationship with him! Hope you don't mind Sakura."

Sakura hissed at Ino and the two cursed at each other over Sasuke as Naruto laughed. Choji tried to break up the fight. Lee later found them and decided to tag along, bringing along Tenten who happened to be nearby. Kiba made small talk with Hinata and Neji as Lee elaborated on a story with Tenten who nodded appreciatively. Shikamaru stuck to the back of the group lagging behind, not wanting to become part of an annoying argument or anything with talking for that matter.

By the time they reached the station, Sasuke was already waiting for them.

"SASUKE!"

He turned to look at the group with mild surprise before smirking.

"The old gang is still together I see."

Sakura and Ino ran up to Sasuke to give him hugs, glaring at one another behind his back as Sasuke peeled them off him. Naruto and the rest of the gang warmly greeted him, asking him how the trip was. Shikamaru stayed back yawning, knowing it wasn't necessary to greet Sasuke himself. He looked over Sasuke's shoulder in surprise to see three others with him.

"Hey guys, why are they here?"

The rest of the gang looked to where Shikamaru pointed and Naruto yelled, "AHH! Gaara!" Gaara and his brother Kankuro and his sister Temari stepped up to stand beside Sasuke, instantly greetings were shared and smiles exchanged.

"Gaara! It's been so long!"

Gaara nodded with a small hint of a smile on his face.

"Yes, it has been, Naruto. It's nice to see you again."

Kiba grinned at Kankuro.

"Sure has been a long time hasn't it puppet man?"

Kankuro smirked.

"Sure has, how's your dog?"

Akamaru barked in Kankuro's face and panted.

"Yeah, yeah, I remember seeing you."

Hinata greeted Temari kindly.

"H-hello Temari. It's n-nice to meet you again …"

Temari gave her a grin.

"Thanks."

Choji looked at her thoughtfully as he stuffed his face with chips.

"Hmm. You look different than last time. Did you lose weight or something?"

Temari laughed.

"To hear that coming from you, I don't think so. I haven't changed a bit."

Temari shot a look at Shikamaru with a grin.

"I bet the same goes for Shikamaru."

Shikamaru sighed, scratching the back of his head tiredly.

'_Oh boy, her again. How troublesome ...'_

But Shikamaru had to agree with Choji; since the past there years seeing her and the others, she did seem a bit different. Maybe she grew taller? Or maybe because her hair grew longer. Who knows, Shikamaru wasn't concerned with her appearances anyway. So why did he bother?

"Long time seeing you lazy bum."

Shikamaru faced Temari awkwardly as she smirked in his face.

"How have you been doing these past three years? Watching clouds?"

Shikamaru sighed. Geez was she annoying sometimes.

"Why do you always ask questions that answer themselves?"

Temari grinned wider.

"Because they annoy you."

Shikamaru shook his head, he didn't want to put in any effort to think of something smart to throw back at her, what was the point anyway?

Naruto thoughtfully looked at Gaara while asking, "Say Gaara, why the sudden visit?"

Gaara looked at his brother and sister before answering mildly, "We came over because there has been a school transfer."

Naruto and the others fell silent. Then in unison; "EH?"

Kankuro explained the reason.

"Our school is going through some remodeling and it's going to take a while. So they sent out the Sand students to choose a school to stay in until it's done. Lucky for us, this just happened to be a chance where we can switch schools permanently."

Tenten whistled.

"Just like that? Nobody would care if you switched schools?"

Temari shrugged with a smug look on her face.

"No one stopped us from coming here. I doubt they'd care less if we decided to stay in Konoha city."

Shikamaru looked up at the sky.

'_Oh brother, this might get meddlesome…'_

Sakura thoughtfully contemplated the idea of them transferring.

"Huh, but why would you want to come to Konoha? Aren't there other schools in the Sand?"

Kankuro patted Gaara on the back heartily.

"Well, Gaara here wanted to be with Naruto and the others and suggested we came here. It's not a bad idea after all; we're all friends aren't we?"

Naruto grinned.

"Of course! This'll be awesome! Gaara, you're going to love our school!"

Sakura and Ino shrugged to one another.

"We have nothing against it."

Lee pumped his fist in the air, "Being joined by our fellow Sand students will strengthen our friendships! This will increase the power of our youth!"

Neji shook his head at Lee's enthusiasm.

"You say that to about almost everything Lee…"

Hinata smiled shyly.

"I-I don't mind. They're o-our f-friends …"

Sasuke shrugged at the rest.

"I had no problem with them tagging along; at least they're not leeches or anything."

Choji simply devoured his chips as Kiba thought it over.

"So you guys will be transfer students? Eesh, let me give you a heads up then – the rest of the kids at our school are going to take an interest in you. Try not to get on their bad side or they may start picking on you – annoying as they are."

Temari snorted.

"Just let them try; they can't do anything to us."

Shikamaru groaned to himself.

'_Transferring to our school? Great. That means that hot head Temari is going to be around more often. This is going to be such a drag …'_

* * *

Temari woke up early the next day to rough banging on her door. Temari groaned tiredly, rolling in her bed to look at the clock. She shouted to Kankuro groggily.

"Ugh, KANKURO! Open the damn door …"

The banging continued and Temari didn't hear Kankuro getting the door. Irritably Temari rose from her bedroom and mumbled bitterly as she headed down the hall to the door. The person wouldn't stop banging on the damn door.

"STOP BANGING DAMMIT! I'M COMING, I'M COMING!"

The banging stopped as Temari worked the locks apart, opening the door while rubbing her tired eyes.

"God, now who is it?"

Ino waved at her happily with Sakura and Hinata behind her.

"Hi! We thought we could walk with you to school."

Temari blinked twice before comprehending her offer.

"Huh? Walk together? Uh, hold on a second … let me wake up my brothers …"

Sakura piped up.

"Oh, we saw them on the way here, they wanted us to tell you that they already left and that you needed to wake up or else you'd be late."

Temari frowned.

'_Geesh, it's so typical of them to let me sleep in. I'm not surprised Kankuro decided to ditch me, but Gaara, I thought he was at least considerate.'_

"Oh did they now? Great …"

Temari grumbled to herself before inching the door shut.

"Hold on then, let me just get ready then."

After dressing appropriately, Temari joined the other girls on the walk to school. As suspected, Ino and Sakura talked nonstop about … GIRLISH junk, so Temari stuck behind to at least get acquainted with Hinata, who she liked better since she wasn't very girly.

"So what's this school like? Is it any better than ours?"  
Hinata shyly shrugged, offering Temari her kindest smile.

"I-I don't think it's any better. Y-Your school is a pre-prestigious one, isn't it?"

Temari shrugged back.

"Everyone calls it that, but to me, a school is a school – full of lousy teachings over who cares what."

Hinata laughed quietly.

"O-oh I'm sure school can't be all t-that bad. I e-enjoy school m-most of the time."

Temari looked at Hinata not at all surprised.

"I'm not surprised. You're a Hyuuga, aren't you guys smart anyway? It wouldn't surprise me that you actually LIKE school."

Sakura turned walking backwards as she jumped in the conversation.

"Yeah, Hinata is really kind of odd. She's always liked the school. Personally, I don't enjoy it too much. But I really like medical terminology, at least THAT is interesting and worth learning about."

Ino laughed over her shoulder.

"Ha! For once, Sakura is right. Nothing in the school is that fun at all. But you gotta admit; all the drama that goes on at school is SO TOTALLY worth hearing about."

Temari frowned to herself as she heard that tidbit.

'_Drama? Oh good lord, I hate schools like that … so typical of a high school.'_

Temari shook her head; she could already tell that she might not like the school at all.

When they reached the school, Temari was a bit impressed by the size of the school buildings; though her old school was far better known for its educational programs, it was always a much smaller school than most. It almost didn't surprise Temari that Konoha city's high school was bigger; she doubted the teaching programs were any better.

Temari eventually had to leave the girls to report to the office, she still needed to know her schedule and her locker number…

Temari walked around the school aimlessly for a while, frowning to herself as she stopped for the fifth time in the middle of the hall.

"Wait … I was here before-"

The bell rang. Everyone was probably in their first classes by now.

"Damn it! Where's the freaking office when you need it?! Stupid … confusing school."

Temari turned to walk the other way in hopes of retracing her steps when someone called out to her.

"Hey! What are you doing out of class?"

Temari froze and sighed.

'_If I get in trouble at my first day in this new school … ugh, I should've asked the girls where the office was in the very beginning.'_

Temari turned around to explain when she blinked in surprise at who it was.

Shikamaru looked at her in surprise.

"Huh? Temari? What are you doing out here? You should be in class by now."

Temari crossed her arms and bitterly replied, "I know. I heard the bell."

Shikamaru raised his eyebrows at her.

"Aaaand? I hate to point it out, but you're not inside a classroom."

Temari kept silent. If she told him why, she'd break her own pride … getting lost while finding an office? How embarrassing…

Shikamaru crossed his arms as he waited for a reply.

"Well?"

Temari hissed through clenched teeth.

"I … got lost trying to find the office."

Silence. Then Shikamaru hid a smile behind his hand, a slight tremor in his shoulders as he suppressed his laughter.

"Ah, so that's why … I see."

Temari growled at him angrily, "Don't laugh. I can tell you're laughing."  
Shikamaru grinned behind his hand, his eyes looking off to the side.

"No I'm not."

Temari blushed angrily, God was she so embarrassed right now!

"A-anyway! How come YOU'RE out of class Shikamaru?"

Shikamaru lifted his arm band for her to see.

"I'm the part of the Student Patrol. I maintain the halls and make sure every student is where they should be. It's a pain in the butt to do, but I was elected by the school to do it, plus the student president would kill me if I didn't do my job so, yeah. That's why I'm excused for the first five minutes of every class so I can do patrolling."

Shikamaru slipped his hands back in his pocket before grinning.

"Anyway, enough talking. Let's get you to the office."

Temari shook her head.  
"You don't have to take me, just give me the directions to the office and I can take it from there-"

Shikamaru shook his head.

"Ah, no can do. I have to escort you there personally to make sure you weren't lying to me about trying to find the office. For all I know, you could've been trying to play hooky."

Temari gave him a withering look.

"You really think I'd be that kind of a person? Sure I hate school, but that wouldn't mean I'd resort to playing hooky."

Shikamaru shrugged as his hands went up in surrender.

"Hey, just doing my job. I have to make sure you're not breaking any rules, and you never know, maybe you're a rule breaker."

Temari muttered under her breath, "This is ridiculous …"

"Now stop complaining and follow me already. Talking isn't going to get you anywhere."

Reluctantly she followed Shikamaru, walking side by side with him as they walked down the hall. Shikamaru glanced at her sideways before smiling and looking back ahead.

"Troublesome woman …"

Temari glared at him.

"Hey!"

When Shikamaru led her to the office he handed her a map.

"Here, just in case you get LOST again."

Temari snatched it out of his hand rudely before stuffing it in her back pocket none too kindly.

"Thank you very much SIR."

Shikamaru shook his head with a sigh, walking off as he muttered to himself, "Rude as always …"

Temari watched Shikamaru turn around the corner and disappear from view. Temari entered the office with a shake of her head.

"Hot shot, he thinks he's sooo smart…"

The accountant looked up from her computer as Temari entered the office, a quizzical expression on her face.

"Who, what the … oh! You must be the other transfer student, am I right?"

Temari nodded and the office lady pulled out a copy of her schedule, a student ID, and her locker combination.

"Your brothers were here earlier and told me you were coming late. But don't worry; we're pretty lenient with newcomers when it comes down to attendance. Just make sure you get to school more on time though."

Temari grumbled to herself as she took her things before leaving the office.

"If only my brothers woke me up on time … geesh."

Temari then walked off to her first class of the day while pocketing her ID and locker combination. Her day was so totally off to a good start – NOT.

* * *

Temari thought she'd die in her first two classes. She was stuck with Ino and Sakura who talked nonstop to her, comparing their schedules and squealing how the majority of the classes matched theirs. _'Great. More girly crap …'_

When she was introduced to the class, the boys looked at her either with mild interest or sleazy smiles. The girls would point out her hair and clothes before muttering how she lacked taste in fashion; other girls simply took one look at her before turning back around not really caring.

However they were mostly intrigued by her because apparently by Ino's terms, Ino and Sakura were considered 'popular girls' and for Temari to be hanging out with them, would immediately tag her as one … that is if the school judged her worthy enough. Temari sighed. She hated how it always worked that way.

The classes dragged one after another, the teachers seeming to share the same droning voices as they rambled on about mindless topics of which Temari didn't care about.

When lunch break came around, Temari was relieved. At least for a few minutes, she wouldn't have to listen to the teachers drone and Ino and Sakura giggle about some girly gossip.

While following Ino and Sakura to the lunch room, she heard loud squealing from one end of the hall and Temari turned to look.

Sasuke and Naruto, accompanied by Kiba, Neji, and Shikamaru, traveled down the hall in a group, occasionally stopping to peel off a fan girl.

Temari turned back to Sakura and Ino while jabbing a thumb behind her.

"Let me guess. They're labeled 'popular boys'."

Ino nodded with a stupid love struck smile.

"Of course! Sasuke is so hot and amazing, how could he NOT be popular?"

Sakura shook her head with her hands out in exasperation however, "Though how Naruto got mixed in with that group, we have no idea. He's not that good-looking nor is he very smart. He's a total idiot. But I guess he makes up for his major flaws with his superiority in fighting. He's always been a bit of a brawler."

Ino chirpily added after Sakura finished.

"And Kiba is well liked because the girls love his dog. He's always been nicer to the girls than the others, though Naruto enjoys his fans more than any of them."

Sakura held up a finger as if to make a point.

"Un-doubtfully. That idiot has never had a fan girl before; naturally he'd relish every single one of them. As for Neji, his solitary personality and firm speech has gotten him to be well liked among most of the practical girls. Not to mention he's the student president and has some influence over school changes and rules. "

Sakura and Ino looked at one another with another self knowing smile.  
"And we ALL KNOW why Shikamaru is so popular."

Temari frowned.  
"I always thought he was a lazy bum. What brought on this change?"

Ino gave her a funny look.

"Um, hello~?! Shikamaru is crazily smart! Who else in this school has an IQ over 200? Shikamaru is idolized for his brains and for being exceptionally good-looking to most girls, not to mention after his popularity soared, they even started loving his bored and lazy attitude. Funny how we girls see things over time."

Temari rolled her eyes. Please! Of all things, the girls loved him for being infamously lazy? Ridiculous.

Sakura nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, he's seriously earned his way up to the top. But because of that, even Choji and Lee are being recognized. I guess if you're a friend of the hottest and admired five, you're likely to be liked as well."

Ino nodded.

"Yup. Last I heard this rumor; some girl is in love with Lee!"

Sakura gasped.

"No way! Tell me more; I've got to hear this …"

Temari lagged behind the two girls as they began their usual routine of gossip, her squeals making Temari's ears sore.

"Hey Temari!"

Temari glanced behind her to find Kiba calling out to her as the group of boys drew closer to Temari, Sakura, and Ino; the fan girls giving a glare at Temari for drawing their attention away from them.

"Do you like the school so far?"

Temari gave a glare to the girls until they looked away.

"Not as much as I thought."

Naruto laughed.

"It gets better over time, trust me. It'll grow on you."

Temari tsked, not really seeing how she'd ever get used to such a cliché school full of fan girls and popularity.

Temari casted a wary glance at Shikamaru who gave her a smirk.

"Didn't get lost again hopefully?"

Temari felt the embarrassment resurface, making her blush angrily.

"Shut up! I didn't get lost again!"

Shikamaru snickered, teasing her with his smile.

"Oh good. It would suck if I had to keep taking you to your classes every day until you finally memorize the school's layout."

Temari grabbed him by the front of his jacket and hissed, "Keep talking and I'll-"

"Shikamaru! Who is the new girl? Is she your girlfriend or something?"

Temari turned to glare at the fan girl who piped out.

"W-WHAT?! EXCUSE ME BUT I AM NOT-"

Shikamaru shook his head quickly, a blush creeping on his face.

"Oh God, no, no, it's nothing like that."

Kiba snickered.

"Just watch, I bet sometime this year you two will hook up."

The fan girls frowned as Temari yelled at him loudly, "SHUT UP!"

Naruto elbowed Neji with a snigger.

"She's in total denial."

Temari shoved Shikamaru back as she headed straight towards Naruto angrily, "Why I'll wring your neck until you choke and-"

Sakura and Ino hurriedly came back to Temari hooking their arms over hers and apologetically nodded to the boys.

"Sorry! Sorry! Temari is just cranky! She didn't have such a good start at school so just ignore her ramblings – she's just grumpy, that's all."

Kiba grinned again.

"Or she's just trying to hide the fact she-"

Temari lashed out menacingly with her feet, clipping him just barely on the chin.

"GOD, I WILL SO MURDER YOU GUYS-"

"Bye!"

And with that, Sakura and Ino dragged Temari the best they could down to the cafeteria, the fan girls murmuring to one another as Naruto and Kiba laughed. Neji and Sasuke shook their heads, uninterested in the situation as Shikamaru simply tried to hide his blush.

* * *

**I wanted to start off the chapter kind of subtly since it'd be weird to have Shikamaru and Temari have a ShikaTema moment right off the bat. (Unless you consider the parts where she sort of bickers with him a ShikaTema moment, then there you go. :3 ) I hope the story is alright and that it's not to bland. (Sorry if I come off as a very 'hopeful' person - especially if you find this annoying - considering I've used the word 'hope' like a bajillion times in my notes.) **

**I'm not quite sure what reviews are yet, but from looking a few other stories on the website, I'm going to assume that reviews are good. So, if I get at least a few reviews (one review might just be enough) I'll continue the story. But then again, I might continue it regardless of reviews or not. Oh well, I'll just have to wait and see.**


	2. Misunderstandings

**Yay! One review! (I'm such a desperate soul in need of support, I need a life. XD ) So I'm grateful to the one person who bothered to care enough to encourage me on, though I know I'm not a very good writer and I lack in so many things, to have one person interest makes me want to try harder to not disappoint you! So to the guest reviewer (a01) thank you so much for your encouraging words! Even if you end up not reading the rest of my story or whatever, I won't forget your nice comment! Thanks a million!**

**Recap: **

**Temari and her siblings has transferred into Shikamaru's high school in Konoha high school. Kiba and Naruto have struck a nerve in her as they tease and joke Temari and Shikamaru that they were dating! With a bit of a misunderstanding going on between the two, Temari and Shikamaru face a bit of an unusual relationship as they try to sort things out ... with even more troubles ahead of them.****  
**

* * *

**Chapter 2: Misunderstandings**

Temari murdered her water bottle in her hands, growling to herself as she hissed, "Those boys, I'll kill them when I see them!"

Hinata choked on her water before stuttering, "T-Temari! P-Please! No k-killing, it's b-bad and s-school i-isn't a p-place where y-you k-kill others."

Temari crossed her arms as she snarled displeasingly at the table.

"Who cares?! They were trying my piss me off! If I hear another word come out of their mouths about me and Shikamaru, I swear I will-"

Ino smiled at Sakura as she propped her elbows on the table while resting her chin on her folded hands.

"But you know, you two don't make that bad of a couple, if I remember, a few years ago you two were-"

Temari flung the table to one side in fury.

"WE ARE SO NOT COMPATIBLE! SO SHUT UP ABOUT IT BEFORE I RIP OUT YOUR TONGUE!"

Ino paled before backing off.

"Okay, okay! Good grief! No need to get all hissy foot about it, it was just a joke after all! Chill!"

Sakura muttered behind her sandwich, "But they do make a cute couple …"

Temari sank in her chair again before sighing to herself, knowing that Ino was probably right. After all, boys made jokes like this ALL the time, why should it bother her so much if it was just a lame, stupid joke? Seriously, Temari was being too immature about this.

"Yeah, yeah, you guys are right, I'm probably just … overreacting."

The three girls looked at one another as Temari glowered to herself.

Seriously though! Every time she reflects back to how Shikamaru teased her and gave her his smirk, she just wanted to punch that face. And when he blushed when Kiba said …

"Hey sis! I see you actually got your ass out of bed, how was your time at school so far? Me and Gaara tried to find you earlier but –"

Temari snapped as she whirled around and punched him in the face, screaming more to herself than him, "SHUT UP! WE'RE NOT DATING!"

Kankuro went flying into a nearby table and collapsed into the broken table, a stunned look on his face.

Temari looked at him for a moment before realizing what she did – and what she said.

"Kankuro! Oh crap, I'm sorry I-"

"What's going on here?"  
Gaara strolled over to look between his brother and sister before examining the broken table and the bruise on Kankuro's face. Gaara looked at Kankuro pitifully.

"Don't tell me you were picking on Temari again."

Kankuro angrily swept aside a table leg as he shouted, "LIKE HELL I WOULD! WHAT THE F*CK IS YOUR PROBLEM TEMARI?! I ASK YOU HOW YOU'RE DOING AND YOU F*CKING SWING ON ME!"

Temari growled before crossing her arms apologetically.

"Yeah, yeah, look, I'm sorry. I'm just having a bad day so far."

Kankuro rubbed his jaw as he muttered, "Hell yeah, I can see that now. But what was that you said earlier? Something about you dating someone?"

Gaara shot Temari a sudden look of surprise as he was instantly set on edge.  
"You're already dating? Who is this guy; I'd like a talk with him."

Temari flustered as she shook her head, her hands up to emphasize.

"Ah, no, no, no, no, I'm not dating ANYBODY. It was just a misunderstanding as a bunch of boys made a lame and stupid joke about it, seriously, I'm not dating!"

Gaara narrowed his eyes at his sister.

"I'd still like to know who it was that was associated with you in the joke. While you're at it, give me the names of the boys who teased you. I want to talk to them too."  
Temari rolled her eyes, glaring at Gaara and Kankuro.

"Seriously! You two don't need to act as if you're my parents, can't you trust your older sister when she says she isn't dating anyone?!"

Kankuro frowned at her from where he sat among the table remains.

"Sure we trust you; but you ARE a high school girl, who knows, you could be hiding something."

Temari looked at the three girls incredulously.

"Can you believe this guy?!"

The three girls kept silent as Gaara continued, "Anyway, just tell us so we don't make this any more of a scene than it already is …"

He swept his eyes to the side as Temari looked up, her face draining as she saw a group of students murmuring and pointing at the scene, Kankuro hurriedly stood up from the table remains while sweeping the dust and splintered wood from his clothes.

Temari hissed at Gaara and Kankuro, "God, just leave me alone! I swear, I'm NOT dating anyone, and trust me, if I ever do, I'll be sure to let you know."

Gaara narrowed his eyes at her again as Kankuro crossed his arms, the three holding each other's gaze before Kankuro threw his hands up growling.

"Ah screw it; Temari is never going to tell us Gaara."

Gaara watched Kankuro stalk away and turned to follow, looking at his sister before leaving.

"There are other ways to find out you know, I suggest you try not to hide things from us."

Temari crossed her arms growling, "I'm not hiding ANYTHING Gaara. You and Kankuro can mind your own business!"

Gaara kept silent, and then he turned walking away.

"Just thought I'd remind you; we're family. Not strangers."

Temari pursed her lips, feeling a bit guilty for snapping at her brothers and not bothering to tell them the full story. Temari shook her head, wishing that sometimes, she wasn't such a hot head. Temari looked at the three girls and frowned.  
"What? What are you guys looking at me like that for?"

Hinata dropped her gaze to her fingers as Ino and Sakura exchanged a worried expression, the three keeping silent. Temari shook her head and began stalking in the other direction, Sakura calling out suddenly.

"T-Temari! Where are you going?"

Temari answered, more to herself than to them however.

"Somewhere, where I can cool off …"

* * *

"Hey, hey, Shikamaru!"

Shikamaru kept his eyes stubbornly shut; keeping his face snuggled inside his arms on the table.

"Hey! Shikamaru!"

He felt a hand jostle his shoulder, which he shrugged off.

"Leave me alone."

Kiba tsked before grinning to Naruto.

"Eesh, the guy is even more sensitive than I thought. Can't even let such a joke slide by."

Shikamaru sat up and smacked Kiba on the back side of his head, growling irritably, "I'm not SENSITIVE; I just happen to be VERY offended."

Neji shook his head at the two.

"Lay off Shikamaru, Kiba, you've already made him feel bad already."

Naruto laughed as he sat back in his chair, perilously tipping his chair on two legs.

"Yeah, yeah, Shikamaru and his secret feelings."

Shikamaru groaned as he mumbled, "I thought we settled this Naruto. I don't like her, seriously. Maybe we're friends of some sorts, but she is SOOO not my girlfriend."

Naruto smirked behind his hand.

"Yeah, I soooo believe you."

Sasuke irritably kicked his chair out from beneath Naruto, who went tumbling to the ground in surprise, looking up at Sasuke angrily.  
"What the f*ck – what the hell was that for Sasuke?!"

He looked down at Naruto disdainfully.

"I've heard enough of sarcasm from you Naruto. The joke is getting old and with you adding to it is making it even crummier – so shut up already."

Naruto cursed as Sasuke glared at Kiba.

"And the same goes for you too."

Kiba held out his hands in surrender.

"I hear yah, I hear yah."

Naruto leaped up from the ground and grabbed Sasuke by the front of his jacket, hissing in his face, "You wanna fight? I don't consider kicking my chair a very nice thing to do."

Sasuke smirked in his face.

"Yeah right, I'm not going to waste my time fighting you. You can't even put a scratch on my forehead."

Naruto hissed at him before growling, "Just watch me-"

Lee came barreling into the two breaking in between the angry boys, his hands on each boy's wrist.

"Please my youthful friends! We must not break the bonds of friendship over something as silly as this!"

Choji came up next to Shikamaru munching his chips before asking, "What's going on here?"

Shikamaru ran his fingers through his hair sighing to himself.  
"The boys are just messing around as usual … so troublesome …"

After Naruto managed to cool down, he turned away snorting angrily. Kiba looked up at a student passing by and shouted out quickly, "Oi! Temari! Temari!"

Temari stiffened as she turned to look at the boys, Shikamaru holding her gaze for a split second before the two looked away embarrassed.

Kiba grinned at her as he yelled at her from across the hall, "Hey, wanna join us for lunch?"

Temari pursed her lips.

"No, sorry, I already ate."

Kiba waved her over, "Still, just sit with us and let's chat. I'm sure Shikamaru would LOVE to have you come over and-"

Temari stormed over and grabbed Kiba by his shirt, growling in his face menacingly, "Mention another comment about Shikamaru and me, and you will SO get what's coming to you."

Kiba laughed nervously as her hand tightened her grip on his shirt, while the other was pointed accusingly at him, being driven into his right shoulder painfully.

"Hahaha … right, I'll … remember that."

Temari pushed him back before storming off, keeping her eyes off Shikamaru as she passed him. Without thinking, Shikamaru stood and turned to follow her, Naruto calling out to him in surprise.

"Hey! Shikamaru! Where are YOU going?!"

Shikamaru glanced back at the boys before telling them, "I'm just going to smooth things out with Temari, this is seriously getting too troublesome to even bother to try and wait it out …"

Then Shikamaru went jogging after Temari in a hurry as the rest of the boys looked at one another questionably, wondering where his heart really was in all of this.

* * *

Temari steamed again remembering Kiba's teasing words, angry at herself for making a small scene about it. Ugh! The boys were just so annoying! Temari half wished she had punched him right there and then just to release some of the steam in her system right now.

"Temari! Wait up!"

Temari froze up at the sound of his voice, his footsteps drawing closer to her until they stopped directly behind her. Temari bit her lip before turning to face him, putting on her angry face.

"WHAT?!"

Shikamaru blinked in surprise at her snappy words and hesitated, she stood there with one hand on her hip scowling irritably.

"Hurry up and say it before I leave again! I don't have time for this!"

Shikamaru sighed and scratched the back of his head as he tried to find the right words to say without pissing off the angry girl any further.

"Um, yeah. Just to clear things out, I don't like you."

Temari blinked at him, slightly offended. Why did she feel offended right now? To cover it up, she snorted at his statement.

"Well duh, I know that."

Shikamaru held her gaze a moment longer before adding, "So I just wanted to make that clear so that you don't get any ideas or false notions that we might be in a relationship so-"

Temari snapped as she stomped up to him, pointing an angry finger at his face leaning close to him while hissing bitterly, "Well you wouldn't have to worry about that crap if you hadn't bothered teasing me earlier in the hall about getting lost and making Kiba have wild assumptions about us! Maybe THEN it wouldn't have bothered me so much!"

Shikamaru looked at her incredulously.

"So wait, THAT was what got you so mad? Because I teased you first? Now that's just-"

Temari angrily growled in his face, "What!? You find that hard to believe? Good God, this is why I don't like you Shikamaru! You're so stupid sometimes despite the fact everyone keeps saying that you're smart-"

Temari suddenly grabbed Shikamaru and dragged him into the corner, clapping a hand over his mouth.

"What the h-"

"Shut up unless you want my brothers to kill you!"

The two fell silent as they listened for her brothers to pass.

"… She worries me sometimes Gaara! Sisters are such a pain in the ass!"  
"You're just going to have to accept it sooner or later. Besides, Temari isn't known for being that easy to hook up with anybody."

Temari and Shikamaru heard Kankuro laugh, the two walking past them barely noticing them.  
"Yeah, you're right. Nobody would want to date Temari; she's a girl with fire – I'll feel so sorry for whoever ends up with her, he'll be facing a whole new definition of 'girlfriend'."

Kankuro howled at his own humor, making Temari hiss to herself.

"That f*cking idiot … when I get home, I'm so going to-"

"Now can you please tell me why you had me dragged off into this corner with you?"  
Temari glared at Shikamaru as he gave her a frown.

"My brothers think I'm dating you, but they don't know who you are. And if you know anything about my youngest brother Gaara, I promise you, he'll be talking to you about our relationship and if you answer incorrectly, he'll kill you."

Shikamaru gave her a quizzical expression.  
"So what's the whole point of dragging me in the corner? We AREN'T dating, so therefore there's nothing to be scared of your brother about if you just tell him we aren't-"

"That doesn't matter to him. If you start saying something like, 'Oh this is a misunderstanding, it was just a joke', he'll get EXTREMELY offended. He'll take your explanation as an insult to me and murder you to death for what he'd see as you calling, having a relationship with me, a 'joke'."

Shikamaru kept the questioning look on his face.

"Is he really THAT scary?"  
Temari glared at him.  
"Why the f*ck do you think I dragged you here for? To save your f*cking ass from him murdering you-"

There was a bright flash and the two quickly looked over to where it came from, both stunned in surprise and shock as Kiba grinned at them with his cell phone in hand, the rest of the boys watching as he saved the picture to his phone.

"That was too easy. But I sure did get a hell of a picture!"

Shikamaru pushed Temari to one side as he lunged for the phone.

"Oh my God, stop fooling around Kiba and delete it already!"

Kiba danced out of his reach with a laugh on his face, waving it tauntingly away from him.

"Why should I? It's perfect proof that you two are 'together'! There is no freaking way I'm deleting this; I'm gonna post this on Facebook and Twitter for the whole school to see!"

"If you do that, I will so kill you."  
"I can practically see the headlines in the student newspaper, under the Gossip section: 'SHIKAMARU AND TEMARI?! HOW SCANDALOUS!'"

Suddenly Kiba fell right into the hands of Temari, a very angry expression on her face as she ripped the phone out of his hands.

"What the – hey! Give my phone back!"

"You've crossed the line TWICE with me today dog breath! Now you're doing it again by threatening us about going out to spread illicit junk about me and Shikamaru by taking a picture and making up false information about us! Stop doing such sh*t and GET A LIFE!"

The boys watched Temari as she threw the phone on the ground, breaking it under her heel that made Kiba shout, "M-MY PHONE!"

Temari stomped away as Kiba picked at the remains of his phone.

"That b*tch just f*cking broke my phone!"

Shikamaru crossed his arms with a hint of a smile on his face.

"That's what you get for threatening us with that picture you took."

Naruto glanced at Temari who just turned around the corner down the hall.

"Damn. She's one touchy chick. No way am I gonna mess with her so recklessly."

Everyone looked at Naruto who looked back perplexed.  
"W-what? Why are you guys looking at me like that for?"  
Neji mumbled, "I never would've thought you'd actually KNOW that word … much less apply it to yourself."

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?"  
"It means you're an idiot."

"SHUT UP SASUKE!"

While Kiba moped about his phone with enduring scolding from Neji, and as Naruto growled at Sasuke with Lee attempting to break the fight, Choji consoled Shikamaru.

"Hey, you alright?"  
Shikamaru, a bit dazed after everything that happened in the last few seconds, nodded.

"Yeah …"  
"You seem a bit aloof, you sure?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm sure."

Choji munched his chips as he eyed Shikamaru curiously, wondering if Shikamaru's face was normally that red …

"By the way, why were you two like that in the corner? Was she hitting on you?"  
Shikamaru turned his face in time to hide a blush at the thought of that.  
"What? Please, no. It's nothing like that. She was just trying to hide us from her brothers, that's all…"

Choji gave him a suspicious look.  
"And why would she do that?"

Shikamaru shrugged.

"I don't know exactly. Something about her brothers bent on killing the guy who was associated with her in the joke that Kiba and Naruto made, because now, they apparently they think I'm dating her."

Choji held his suspicious eyes on Shikamaru who had still not turned to look at Choji in the eye.

"Are you?"  
Shikamaru suddenly remembered the way she had grabbed him and shoved him in the corner, her hand on his mouth and the grim look in her eyes as she explained … why was it that it made his stomach queasy thinking back on it? He felt his face flush.

"Of course not…"

Choji licked the crumbs off his fingers before crumbling his empty bag of chips.

"Okay then … whatever you say."

* * *

Geez! That was so embarrassing! What would've happened if Kiba actually had hold on that picture and leaked it?! Urgh, it would've turned out to be so embarrassing, Temari was about to book the next train ticket out of Konoha City back to the Sand – she was totally ready to hole herself up and never come back out for at least five years.

Temari suddenly remembered the way Shikamaru smiled after she destroyed Kiba's phone; the soft curl in his lips as he smirked at Kiba. Her face flushed. She ended up slapping herself.  
"Holy sh*t, what am I f*cking thinking?! That was so not me just now!"

Temari patted her cheeks until she felt the heat slip away, the blush fading away back to her normal complexion. She sighed and suddenly the bell rang, ending their lunch period. Temari sighed in relief as she started to head to her next class, hoping that Shikamaru's smile wouldn't infiltrate her mind like that EVER again …

He just HAD to be in her next class. When Temari entered the class room, she noticed him sitting slouched in his chair near the back of the class next to the sunniest window, his eyes already closed with his hands in his pockets as he lazily dozed off, hardly noticing a few girls squealing as they pointed at him, giggling about how amazing he looked when he slept. Disgusting fan girls. What was so amazing about that lazy ass anyway? He wasn't THAT good looking either, just a stupid dope …

Temari felt a tap on her shoulder and turned to find a shy smiling Hinata waving at her.

"H-hi. I g-guess w-we have the s-same c-class together a-again."

Temari smiled at her genuinely, at least Hinata was far more tolerable than Sakura and Ino; though her stutter could use some work.

When Temari took her seat next to Hinata, she rechecked her schedule.

"Um, by the way, what is this class about? I didn't get to choose my classes since your school made it for me."

Hinata smiled hesitantly.

"I-It's a s-social i-inter-actions c-class. We l-learn about i-interacting in school p-proactively to students around us."

Temari stared at Hinata blankly before groaning in her hands.

"What the f*ck … what kind of a sh*tty class did your school place me into?! I have the capability to be sociable …! Sometimes."

Hinata mumbled to Temari as she fiddled with her fingers, "T-They just p-probably wanted to h-have you i-interact with the o-other students in o-our s-school so that you don't end up b-being o-outcasted for being a f-foreigner. It's h-happened a l-lot before with other foreigners."

Temari rolled her eyes.  
"Hmph. Typical of the school to think that way."

Temari looked at Hinata with a curious cock of her head.  
"Hmm ... why are you taking this class though? You seem perfectly capable of socializing."

Hinata blushed as she scratched her cheek shyly.

"O-Oh, w-well I … I t-took the c-class b-because I t-thought it'd be i-interesting and t-to improve m-my s-social i-interactions. P-plus it h-helps me t-try and b-break my s-stutter … a-and i-it a-adds t-to my h-high school c-credit …"

Temari eyed Hinata's blush with suspicion.

"Really now …?"

Suddenly a very loud and obnoxious idiot – Naruto of course – came barreling into the room loudly announcing, "UZUMAKI NARUTO IS IN THE HOUSE~!"

The girls in the class squealed at the sight of the popular boy and Temari saw the blush on Hinata's face darken. Following Naruto was a very annoyed Sasuke.

"Why did I agree to take this class with you? I don't even want to interact with people …"

The girls swooned as Sasuke frowned, a few sighing in dumb love, mesmerized in his scowl.

'_Fan girls are so weird ... and they overreact a lot.'_

Naruto jumped up to Temari and Hinata, one hand on the back of Hinata's chair and the other slamming down on her desk, a goofy smile on his face.  
"Hi Hinata! Temari! How are you two doing?"

Hinata blushed furiously before fainting, causing Naruto to look at her perplexed and leaving Temari stunned.

"What~?! She fainted - AGAIN!"

Temari connected the dots and couldn't help but smile behind her hand.

'_Oh geez, Hinata is in love with Naruto. She couldn't have been more obvious could she …'_

Sasuke hooked his fingers in the back of Naruto's shirt collar before dragging him to the back towards Shikamaru, sighing to himself.

"I'm not surprised that she did. Your face is so ugly with that stupid smile of yours; she couldn't handle herself around an idiot like you."

Naruto bickered with Sasuke on the way to sit next to Shikamaru, who was still dozing by the window despite Naruto's loud shouting.

The teacher walked in and he clapped his hands loudly, calling out to the class to settle down.

"Now, now, let's all settle down now, I'm sure you all had plenty of sugar at lunch, please don't make my life difficult by bouncing off the walls today – that means you Naruto."

Naruto looked around incredulously, his fellow classmates giggling or laughing at his perplexity.

The teacher glanced down at his clipboard before announcing, "Uhhh, oh yeah, since this is technically your 'homeroom' or your 'house classroom', I need to introduce to you a new student. Some of you may know her, and others may not, but let's give her a welcoming greeting everyone."

The class clapped as the teacher looked expectantly at Temari to stand; she didn't at first, but afterwards decided to, just to get on the teacher's good side.

"My name is Kakashi, I'm the teacher for social interactions (ironically) and most of the kids here just call me Mr. K, but call me Kakashi, I don't really care."

'_Hmm. I'm beginning to like this teacher.'_

Kakashi looked at his clipboard again with a bored look on his face; he flipped through it before sighing.

"What the heck, I had nothing planned today. Uh, I guess since this is a class about interacting with other students, just talk freely amongst yourself and do whatever you teenagers do, I don't care. As long as you're talking and not being too rambunctious, I'll give you all hundreds for a participation daily grade."

'_Yup. I like him already.'_

Hinata (who had recently waked back up) sat awkwardly next to Temari as she tried starting a conversation.

"Um … s- so, are y-you feeling b-better now?"

Temari blinked at her confused.

"Huh? About what?"

Hinata shrugged shyly.

"W-well you d-did walk off a-angrily d-during lunch, S-Sakura and I-Ino were t-talking about how y-you n-needed 'time and space' t-to c-cool off. Are you feeling any better n-now?"

Temari nodded.

"Oh that, I'm somewhat feeling better. Though I still feel like punching Kiba's face and shoving it down a toilet, I'm feeling just fine."

Hinata nodded.

"I-I see."

Temari nodded again.

"Yeah, you need some help with that stutter of yours."

Hinata nodded, flustering slightly in embarrassment.

"I- I know. S-Sorry if it annoys y-you so m-much. I-I'll keep t-trying t-though."

Temari nodded, feeling a bit sorry for her and her issue.

"I'm sure you'll get it sometime soon. Stutters aren't that hard to fix."

Hinata smiled at Temari's encouragement.

"I-I hope so."

Temari heard loud laughter in the back and Temari and Hinata turned in their seats to observe the scene; Shikamaru was still sleeping, but Naruto apparently had stuck a note on his forehead saying, 'I'm a stupd dope.'

Naruto laughed so loud that Shikamaru slowly woke up; rubbing his forehead only to find a post it stuck to him. He peeled it off and frowned at the note.

Naruto pointed at him as he laughed.

"You completely fell for it! You didn't even notice when I stuck it on, it was too easy! Man you're so stupid!"

Shikamaru turned the note over for Naruto to see as he smirked.

"Well at least I'm not the one dumb enough to misspell the word 'stupid'."

Naruto fell silent before looking utterly confused, half of the class in an uproar at his stupidity.

"What?! No it's not, I spelled it right, I'm sure I did-"

"Naruto, 'stupid' is spelled with an 'i'. Not 'stupd'."

"Shut up Sasuke! I bet you're just making this up with Shikamaru to make me look bad!"  
"Pull up a dictionary and try to prove us wrong dobe."

Temari shook her head at the scene.

"Well they sure are loud."

Hinata blushed as she watched Naruto pull his sleeves up his arms as he held out his fists in front of him, yelling boldly at Sasuke who shook his head at him before looking back at his textbook, trying to ignore the jeering idiot.

"I-I feel b-bad for N-Naruto. He was n-never a v-very good s-speller."  
Temari put her feet on the table as she leaned back in her chair, smiling to herself as she looked at Hinata, "I guess he's in this class to fix his writing."

Hinata blushed as Temari hinted at her earlier suspicions, her blushing again confirming it for her.

"I guess."

Suddenly the teacher called the class to attention, his book he had been previously reading (with a few blushes and oddly enough, giggling, presumably it wasn't an appropriate book to read) was placed to the side as he re-read the email on his computer before sighing.  
"Ah geez, change of plans. I forgot to tell you guys about the project coming up next month. Might as well get it out of the way now."

* * *

Shikamaru watched the teacher pull out a poster from beneath his desk. He taped it to the whiteboard for everyone to see. It was as if someone barfed across the paper in red, orange, and yellow with dashes of pink (obviously it represented fall colors) and in big black letters, '_SCHOOL FALL FESTIVAL! FROM NOVEMBER 20__th__ – 22__nd__, NONSTOP FUN AND GAMES! FOR THE ENTIRE FAMILY TO ENJOY!' _

It was the typical festival time period for the high school to host, it has always been that way around this time of the year and to assume that the project would have to do something about the festival wasn't much of a surprise to Shikamaru.

Kakashi pointed to the poster.

"We all know what this is, yes?"  
The class nodded.

"And you know and I know how annoying this sort of stuff is around school, right?"  
The class nodded again.

"But we still go to it either because we don't have anything else better to do, pressured by friends or family into going, or simply using the time to hang out with friends, right?"  
The class nodded again.

"As much as I find this pointless and how much you guys hate to be the ones actually hosting a small part of it, unfortunately because of the lack of willing classes to participate in helping out the event, the principal has asked us teachers to make it a requirement that we help out. So therefore, our class will be doing something during the festival because the principal said so."

The class groaned as Kakashi pulled out a box, tapping the box he pointed out, "Inside I have placed four numbers – this will be your group number. Once you get into your groups, start discussing who will be the team leader and other positions. I will be assigning each group to a specific part of the festival so that you will have to meet up with the seniors in the high school in charge of that category; and therefore will be taking orders from them. I'll be grading you from time to time, but I might just leave the seniors to do the grading for me. And yes, to those lazy bums in my class, this is a major grade and as the principal puts it; 'fail to pass will result in Saturday tutoring sessions with teacher Guy for three hours every week until the end of the year'. Any questions?"  
Shikamaru sighed. His Saturdays were put in jeopardy now. If he screwed up (like he normally does since he's lazy anyway and doesn't bother to use his intelligence much unless he really wanted to for whatever reason) he'd be forced to sit through an annoying lecture by teacher Guy about student youth or something silly like that. Not to mention it was already embarrassing enough that he came to school every day wearing his silly green leotard; Shikamaru was surprised he wasn't suspended or something by the principal because it was 'distracting attire' and was deeply influencing Lee. (This really wasn't a surprise considering Lee idolized teacher Guy.)

Kakashi held up a finger as if to make a point (which he did), "Oh, I almost forgot. We'll be teaming up with teacher Guy's class simply because our class is a bit smaller than I had planned so hopefully if you end up with no friends in this class for your groups, maybe you'll end up being lucky enough to have a friend in the other class to be grouped with. Understand class?"

The class nodded and he began the drawing.

Kakashi sat at his desk with the box out as he called out each student's name to come over, fish out a number and tell him the number before going back to their seat, he marked each student off on his clipboard as to which group they corresponded to as he called them out to pick a number.

"Subaku no Temari, you're up."

Shikamaru felt his eyes gravitate towards Temari, following her as she stood up from her seat and walked up to the front, all eyes focused intently on the new girl.

He hadn't noticed it before, but she did certainly seem taller and a bit leaner than she was when he had known her at a younger age. Not to mention she had long, slender legs – Shikamaru dropped his head on his desk to the point that it smacked him in the face. Naruto gave Shikamaru a look of surprise as Sasuke eyed him suspiciously.

"Hey … you okay there Shikamaru?"

Shikamaru rubbed his forehead as he mumbled back, "Yeah, I'm fine … I'm fine."

Temari had stuck her hand in the box and pulled out a number after a while. Nobody saw what number she had because she kept it folded and simply handed it to the teacher who unfolded it, wrote down the number and crumbled it away.

"Okay, next one up … uh, Nara Shikamaru. Come on down…"

Shikamaru stood up from his desk taking his time as he weaved his way through the narrow paths made by the desks, he passed Temari on the way and their shoulders brushed as she squeezed past him, making Shikamaru feel oddly light headed.

He approached the box apprehensively as Kakashi pointed bluntly at it.

"Come on now, stick your hand in there and take one out. It's not going to bite you."

Shikamaru pulled one of his hands out of his pockets reluctantly (it was warm inside his pockets) and fished around aimlessly inside the box, He could feel only a small handful left, there wasn't much to choose from.

'_Please don't let it be whatever number Temari got, please don't let it be, please don't let it be, please …'_

Shikamaru pulled out a number and didn't bother looking at it, hoping he wouldn't jinx himself if he did, and simply handed it to his teacher.

He gave him a weird look before unfolding it and peering at the number. He clicked his tongue in a mildly surprised manner.  
"Geez … how fate works with you."

Kakashi scribbled down his number and shooed Shikamaru back to his seat, leaving him itching to understand what he had meant. After the last kid handed him his slip of paper, Kakashi stood up and twirled the pen between his fingers, eyeing the list approvingly before making a few adjustments for the sake of cooperation and fairness.

"Alright then, team one, we'll have Shino, Tenten, Neji, Naruto, Sasuke, and Hinata."

Temari sulked, she was hoping to be placed in Hinata's group, sadly enough she wasn't.

The teacher rambled off the next list of the next two groups and she still hadn't heard her name … nor Shikamaru's. _Crap._

"And last but not least, team four. We'll have Choji, Lee, Shikamaru, and Temari."

Temari buried her face in her hands. _Crap. Crap. Crap._

* * *

Shikamaru sighed, rubbing the back of his neck in exasperation.

'_Aw great. Just when I asked for the opposite. This is going to be such a drag with her on my team.'_

Choji and Lee had drawn up a chair to his table as they eyed Temari who sat still at her own seeming to console herself.

"Geez, of all bad luck, we just had to end up with the Sand girl on our team. This is going to be a bit tough for you team captain."

Shikamaru sighed, his pen aimlessly scribbling around on the sheet of paper he had meant to bring out for brainstorming; but with Temari on his mind, his mind was more scrambled than focused.

"Please, with her on our team, I might consider stepping down from team captain. It'll get troublesome once she starts nagging at me or something …"

Lee banged his fist heartily on the table.  
"NO! We must have YOU as our team captain! No one else is smarter or wiser than you Shikamaru! Embrace your position and face the obstacles to come with pride and perseverance! We shall be running right behind you ready to catch you when you trip or fall!"

Choji shoved another handful of chips into his mouth, shaking his head at Lee's little speech.

"Not the way I'd put it, but yeah, in a similar way, what he just said."

Shikamaru opened his mouth to add something more when a voice behind him interrupted him.

"Excuse me, but I do believe … this is my group as well?"

Oddly enough, Temari was emitting a dark and gloomy atmosphere, causing the three boys to look at her warily.

"Um … yeah, uh, take a seat …"

Shikamaru nervously drew a seat up for her, careful to avoid her venomous gaze for the sake of her eerie cloud of death.

Choji thoughtfully looked at the teacher before asking, "Hey guys, do you have any idea what the teacher will assign us to?"

Shikamaru shrugged, tipping his chair back so that he held some distance between the glowering demon that sat to his far right, trying to appear unaffected.

"Probably something troublesome just so Kakashi can make my life harder. Maybe something like a busy café or something as busy and annoying like that."

Choji ate another handful of chips again.

"Hmm, I'd like to work in a stall or something. Simple but interesting. What about you Lee?"

"We must be placed in something challenging and daring! Perhaps an obstacle course rigged with traps and foes you must face! Or even better; a haunted house WITH an exclusive obstacle course installed into it! HAHAHAHAHA-"

Shikamaru shook his head at Lee, deciding to ask Temari on her thoughts.

"So um, Temari. What about you? Have anything you're hoping on?"  
Temari shrugged, now that her eerie mood had evaporated, she simply was engrossed in observing her nails as if she really didn't care about the project.

"I don't have any suggestions. I've never done this sort of thing so feel free to fill me in anytime soon."

Choji crunched on his chips again before he offered, "Well, the festival is just a traditional event the school likes to host. They like to invite other schools to our festival, and it somehow became a competition over time. Basically, whose festival is better than whose? It used to be where every class would volunteer to be part of the festival and each class would do their own little part, but because the students over time no longer want to do something so cheesy, nobody wanted to do it save the few people dedicated enough to take part. But now that the principal is forcing most of the classes to do it…" Choji shook his head while shoving another handful of chips in his mouth.

"Nobody had much of a choice now."

Temari crossed her arms and frowned, obviously displeased by it all.

"Well, desperate much? This school really needs to shape up; the fans are overreacting, a pushy principal, and a lousy educational system – you guys need to work on that."

Suddenly there was a loud knock on the door and Kakashi opened it to face a weird looking man dressed in a green leotard, boldly standing there without a care in the world that he looked absolutely ridiculous.

"KAKASHI! Good to see you! Now, as the principal insisted, our class shall unite together in the path of friendship and fiery youth to-"

"Yes, yes, please Guy, just tone it down a little. My class isn't used to your ramblings like yours."

Guy heartily laughed, slapping Kakashi roughly on the back.  
"Right, right. Sorry, I was just caught up in the moment! Kids! Get in here and find your groups!"

While Guy waved at a very enthusiastic Lee, Guy's class streamed in the room holding their slips of paper with dumbfounded looks on their faces.

"Temari!"

Ino ran over and threw her arms around her neck, almost choking her if it hadn't been for the chair between them.

"Good GOD is it a relief to have someone I actually know in this group!"

"Ino, get off me …"

Ino stepped back and examined her group, a bit pouty at the sight of Shikamaru and the other two boys.

"What? Only one hot guy? Man this sucks, I was hoping Sasuke would be …"

Sakura walked past Ino with a triumphant grin, waving her slip of paper in Ino's face tauntingly.

"Well sucks for you, guess who's in whose group now pig face?"

Ino sputtered as she watched Sakura walk up to Sasuke boldly; latching herself on his arm so that Sasuke would have to yank himself away from her.

Shikamaru shook his head at the devastated Ino.

"The things girls bother themselves with … how troublesome."

"Yo Shikamaru~!"

He didn't bother looking to where the voice came from.

"Aw geez … another meddlesome person …"

"Hi you!"

Kiba planted on hand down on Shikamaru's head grinning as he peered at the unamused face.

"Guess whose group I'm in? Yours!"

Kiba laughed as he pulled up a chair next to Shikamaru.

"And I see that Temari is with us, perfect, perfect, just a perfect chance for me to get you back for what you did to my phone you b*tch."

Temari's eyes glared dangerously at Kiba, her lips curling back in a snarl.

"Watch who you're talking to dog boy, or I just might break your arm this time instead of your phone."

Shikamaru held up his hands as if to form a truce between the two, sighing as he drew their attention away from one another.  
"Come on now guys, pull yourself together and focus. Kakashi is grading us on teamwork and planning right now and you guys are going to get us started off with a bad grade if you keep this up."

The group glanced at Kakashi who stood to the far back of the room with his eye on the group, his pen marking something on his clipboard.

Temari turned back in her chair and huffed, crossing her arms as she glared at Kiba.

"I'll be quiet as long as dog breath over there keeps his tongue in check!"

Kiba narrowed his eyes at Temari.

"Shut up weasel face."

"Mangy mutt.

"B*tchy rat."

"Dirty stray!"

"SHUT UP!"

The two blinked in surprise as Shikamaru glared at them equally with his arms crossed and clearly irritated, Choji, Lee, and Ino watching on approvingly as Shikamaru hissed at the two, "Both of you start learning to work together or I'll MAKE you two shape up!"

Kiba mumbled a halfhearted apology to Shikamaru as Temari simply scoffed, turning away angrily with her arms crossed.

"Whatever!"

Kakashi drew the classes' attention together as he read the new sheet on his clipboard, nodding as he announced, "Mmhmm, oh that's a good placing. Okay, uh, classes! Each of you are now in your groups I'm sure, now we will begin by sending you off to senior classrooms to meet your fellow teams and get assigned according to their needs. So teams one and four, both of your teams go to room E111, master Jiraiya will be greeting you there."

Shikamaru stood with his group before looking over to team one; their team captain apparently broken down between Neji and Sasuke (who Sasuke simply let Neji lead since he didn't want to be team captain anyway).

The two teams molded together as they walked down the hall towards E111, noisy chatter began as Naruto brought up the question, "Okay then, who knows what group we're in? I hope it's something neat and cool! Something lame and silly just wouldn't cut out for someone amazing like me, don't you think so Hinata?"

Hinata blushed before agreeing.

"O-oh, o-of c-course N-N-Naruto."

Naruto gave her a funny look.

"Geez, you really need help with your stutter."  
Sasuke snorted.

"And you need help with your spelling and grammar."

Sakura clung on Sasuke's arm suddenly and squealed, "Whatever we end up doing, I'm going to work with Sasuke!"

Ino marched over and tore her off Sasuke, yelling in her face, "TO HELL WITH THAT! JUST BECAUSE YOU'RE IN SASUKE'S GROUP DOESN'T MEAN YOU GET TO CLING ON HIM AND GET ALL CUDDLY WITH HIM!"

Sakura smirked.

"You're just jealous pig-Ino."

"Shut up forehead!"

"Please, girls, calm down."

Choji hurried over to Ino, trying to pull her away from clawing Sakura to death, Lee standing besides Sakura saying, "Please beautiful one! We mustn't fight with one another, we wouldn't want that pretty face of yours all scratched up would we Sakura?"

Sakura wrinkled her nose disgusted at Lee.

"Eww, get away from me."

"So loud as always, those people …"

"Well, at least you're not caught up in it right Neji?"

"Don't talk to me Kiba, you're just as annoying as them."  
"What~?"

Shino walked beside Neji weirdly adding in, "I see that there's at least one practical person on our team."

Neji looked at Shino questionably.

"Hmm. I don't quite recall seeing you around school."  
"I tend to keep away from large crowds; I don't like the rambunctious noises they all make."

Neji smiled at Shino.

"Really now? Guess I'm going to get along just fine with you then."

Tenten appeared next to Neji and Shino as they continued walking.

"Um, team captain? I was just wondering; do you have any idea who master Jiraiya is?"  
Neji looked at her for a moment, his eyes lingering an instant longer before looking away shrugging.

"Nope. I haven't got a clue about it."

Shikamaru yawned as he lagged behind, waiting for the loud group to move on ahead so that he had some distance between himself and the others, happy to be left alone walking in his own solitude at his own pace and space.

He almost forgot about Temari.

"Hey you, lazy ass."

Shikamaru turned to look to his right, Temari walking beside him with a smirk.

"You sure like to space out a lot."

When did she get here? He hadn't notice her stand next to him at all. Geez, what was with this girl that made him so astonished and annoyed at the same time?  
"Great, what do you want with me now?"

Temari shook her head with her hands out exasperated, "Nothing at all. I just prefer to be with you rather than any of those annoying guys up there. Maybe a few of them are alright, but they're currently with the annoying ones so I'll just settle with being with you."

Shikamaru felt a smile tug at his lips.

"Oh? So among all of them, you find me more appealing to be with?"

Temari blushed, replying a bit louder than she normally would have.

"What?! NO! You're just more tolerable than the others, alright?! Geez! You and your assumptions …"

Temari didn't feel Shikamaru look away, and when she did look back at him, he was still smiling at her.

"WHAT?!"

"Nothing, just thinking how it's kind of cute how you make such a big fuss over everything."

_Cute?!_

Temari blushed and Shikamaru looked away laughing, his hands in his pockets.

"Yup, cute."

"Shut up lazy ass!"

When Shikamaru ceased laughing, the two continued to walk down the hall in awkward silence, the distance elongating itself between the two and the others in their group.

"So, Temari."

Temari glanced at Shikamaru with a sidelong glance, his eyes intent on her expression.

"Care to fully explain the reason why your brothers want to kill me?"  
Temari growled.

"I thought I already did before."  
Shikamaru grinned.

"Well I AM a lazy guy; you really think I listen to half the things you tell me?"  
Temari swatted his sleeve bitterly, making Shikamaru laugh again.

"Oh you and your stupid lazy ass! Fine then! Let me re-explain to you so you can understand more clearly."

Temari crossed her arms as she searched for the right words to start.

"Well, as I told you, my youngest brother, Gaara, he's not someone you want to mess with unless you want to have your face rearranged."  
Shikamaru smiled, remembering how freaked out Temari was back when they were hiding in the corner, the little explanation of her brother seeming a bit odd and unnatural, but typical for people like her.

"Gaara and Kankuro, though they are younger than me, they all want to make sure their sister is in 'good hands'. Though it annoys me, they can sometimes act as if they're older than me."  
Temari frowned thinking back on it.

"Which is typically REALLY annoying."

Shikamaru kept silent, smiling to himself as he listened to Temari talk on, weird … has he always liked listening to her voice?

"So my point is, once they hear anything about the opposite gender hanging out with me or being associated with me in a questionable manner, they tend to be set on edge and will do by all means anything to find out who and sort it out. Kankuro is usually the one that resorts to blackmail and or a serious sit down chat, but Gaara is more of the intimidating one. He prefers to scare the crap out of them and judge them based on his scale of what's 'suitable' in his eyes before beating them up until they look like sh*t or something as bad as that."

Temari began to notice that Shikamaru hadn't interrupted her in the past three minutes; was he being considerate or was he just too lazy to jump in?

"Well either way, your brothers seem pretty good brothers if you ask me. How many other brothers out there would bother doing the same for their sisters? Very few I bet."

Temari looked at Shikamaru who smiled at her.

"Am I not right?"

Temari stared at the smile on his face before looking away blushing the third time since she had decided to walk with him; God, why was he still giving her those charming smiles? Wait, did she just consider it charming? Someone shoot her now.

"I-I guess. They can be good brothers despite the fact they can be annoying."

Shikamaru leaned in close to Temari, stunning Temari instantly as he eyed her curiously up close.

"Do you find me annoying too?"  
Temari flustered before shoving him away, "Geez! No! You're weirder than you are annoying!"

Shikamaru smiled again, standing up straight as he moved on to keep walking.

"I see. Then the same goes for me to you troublesome woman."  
When Shikamaru walked some lengths away, Temari finally remembered to breathe. His face has been so close that if she had moved just a bit further towards him she would've …

Temari breathed to herself as she blushed imagining such a scene, "Lazy b*tch …"

* * *

**Chapter two is finished! Yay! I was so excited when I got that one review that I bothered to stay up late the other night to type it up. I hope I haven't took too long or whatever. Any more reviews I'll be glad for, but if not, that's just fine. I'm used to not having much attention from others anyway. To those who read this and are bored or don't like it for whatever reason, please don't suffer yourselves any further and click off the page for something more worth your time. If you actually like this or find it interesting, I'd appreciate your support and for using your time to read this story that has many flaws to it and really doesn't deserve your attention! I thank again to a01, for their support and encouraging words! I really hope I get more reviews in the future, and I hope this story turns out better than I hoped. Thank you to all those who bothered to look at this and even if you clicked away and never turned your face to this story again - I give you all virtual hugs and many, many thank yous. ( I cannot fully express my gratitude. Thank you all!)**


	3. Matched Up

**Sorry I didn't upload this sooner. I've been feeling a bit sick lately and so therefore, I'm sorry if this chapter is crappy. I didn't mean for it to be bad/awful so I hope I haven't disappointed anyone too badly. Don't worry though, I'll make up for it in the next chapter. Hopefully by then I don't have a headache and that I get better. **

**Sorry to make you guys wait as well, I know that this story so far is a bit boring and I'm sorry if it seems that way. I'm just sort of getting flexible with Shikamaru's and Temari's attitude so that I can be able to manipulate their relationship later in the story, so I'm sorry that this chapter is a bit icky. But there is a slight ShikaTema part in here that I think you might like ... though I don't think it's quite realistic on how that'd happen, but whatever, I'll make better ShikaTema moments later in the story.**

**Now please enjoy reading and I'm sorry if it disappoints you in advance. I'll try harder next time and I hope I don't write something as bad as this again. But if you like it, then great! I'm glad you like it. :D **

**Happy reading and Happy New Years! **

**(I might post a short story on Shikamaru and Temari on New Year's just for the heck of it, so stay tuned! ;D)**

* * *

**Chapter 3: Matched Up**

The group finally made it to E111 which happened to be at the very far end of the school. Awkwardly the group stood before the door unsure if to knock or not, but more importantly, WHO should knock.

Kiba looked at Naruto instantly.

"Naruto! You open it."

Naruto looked at Kiba incredulously, "What?! Why me?"

Sasuke looked at Naruto with the same look that reflected on Kiba's face.

"Because you're the only idiot here more willing to do it out of all of us."

Naruto shook his head, his hands out in front of him as he stepped back from the door.

"Whoa now, uh-uh, I ain't knocking on a senior teacher's door! If this Jiraiya is anything like Principal Tsunade, I SO don't want to open that door."

Hinata cautiously piped up, "Um, I-I'll do it i-if no one e-else will …"

Kiba grabbed Hinata away from the door before she reached out, giving her a look of utter horror.

"Good God Hinata! Don't go throwing yourself at danger like that! Do you know anything about senior teachers?!"

Hinata paled before Temari bothered asking, "Uh, what's so bad about senior teachers here?"

Ino shivered as she rubbed her arms self-consciously.

"Well for one, in this school at least, they have a REALLY bad temper and ONLY like their own students; seniors. They have little tolerance for juniors and sophomores and if you bother them even if you were sent by your teacher to ask them for something; they will SO flip out on you and according to each teacher, they WILL do something."

Sakura nodded.

"Yeah, like Anko Mitarashi, one hell of a scary woman; she's the one with the creepy snakes in her room, they're SO FREAKING BIG. One almost bit a junior on the leg because Anko was pissed at her; you can imagine what happened from there."

'_What the f*ck?! A teacher with pythons in her class?! This school is more insane than I thought!'_

Shikamaru sighed, drawing everyone's attention.

"Geez, can someone just muster up their damn courage and open that door? You all worry too much …"

Shikamaru pushed past Temari and the others before knocking loudly on the door with his knuckles, the seniors behind the door suddenly stopped laughing and shouting inside as the knock was heard.

Silence. Nothing happened for a while.

Finally Shikamaru turned to look at the others with a bored expression on his face.

"I guess the teacher doesn't want to open the door-"

The door slid open and the juniors faced a very tall and intimidating man with wild white hair, dressed in bright red and only a headband across his forehead managed to hold back some of his unkempt hair.

"WELL, WELL, WELL! LOOKS LIKE SOME OF THE FUTURE SENIORS ARE KNOCKING ON MY DOOR ALREADY! AIN'T THAT RIGHT KIDS?!"

The seniors laughed as Jiraiya laughed with them, the stunned expressions on the junior's faces a bit pale at the sight of the strange teacher. Temari was more disturbed than she was surprised.

'_Good God, he looks like a pervert …'_

Jiraiya grinned at the girls.

"My my, some of them just might turn out to be some SEXY seniors indeed!"

Hinata shuffled behind Sakura and Ino as the two girls twitched in their disturbance. Tenten turned to hide her face as Temari held herself back from slapping herself.

'_Yup … he's a pervert.'_

Jiraiya crossed his arms and grinned at the stunned group.

"Now, what can I do for you kids?"

Shikamaru was the first (and the quickest) to recover his wits before announcing, "Uh, we're here because we're assigned to your class for the festival … I'm sure our teacher Kakashi has informed you beforehand?"

Jiraiya nodded, grinning suddenly as he remembered.

"AH! Yes! You kids! Right then! I almost forgot! Hey students! We've got the group you wanted! Meet the popular ones of the juniors!"

Jiraiya ushered them inside, the seniors inside whooping or whistling as they laughing and pointed at the stunned juniors.

Sasuke shook his head as Neji crossed his arms trying to appear unnerved. Shikamaru yawned and scratched the back of his head as Lee and Choji looked at one another perplexed. Sakura and Ino huddled with Hinata to the back as Tenten stood by Shino while playing with her hair. Kiba and Naruto stood in front of the others looking more offended than they were disturbed. Temari stayed to the back trying to avoid the seniors' gazes.

"WHAT ARE YOU ALL LAUGHING ABOUT HUH?!"

A senior elbowed another snickering, "Hey, hey, that's that one kid! Naruto Uzumaki! From what I've heard, he's a real dope and thinks he's all hot shot! God he's so funny!"

Naruto shook his fist at the howling seniors.

"SHUT UP! OR I'LL FIGHT YOU ALL RIGHT HERE RIGHT NOW!"

Kiba swatted Naruto on the back of his head, growling to him, "Oh shut up Naruto. If you keep yelling like that you're going to get just that and don't blame me when I see you at the hospital with a bunch of flowers saying, 'I told you so.'"

Naruto gave Kiba a withering look and Jiraiya clapped his hands to silence the amused seniors, grinning with them however.

"Now, now, let's be kind to these innocent youths! Don't worry kids, one day you'll be sitting right where they are and be laughing for the same reasons. It takes time to understand though WHY."

Shikamaru looked at Choji who gave him the same weird look.

'_Understand what exactly?'_

Jiraiya slammed a hand on the board behind him, announcing loudly over the snickers of his seniors to the juniors, "In my class, E111, we have decided earlier in the day, through some difficulty as we butted heads and a few bloody noses here and there – we decided that we would settle with going to host a romantic café where you juniors will be part of the serving team; our little waiters and waitresses!"

Jiraiya looked at Choji before adding, "Um, maybe we'll have to make a few adjustments for you big- erm, never mind. Maybe taste tester?"

Choji brightened at the concept of being taste tester and nodded enthusiastically, "I'm all for it! Taste testing is what I do best!"

Sasuke frowned.

"Who brought up the brilliant idea of making us being part of the serving team?!"

"I suggested that we have you and your friends to add to our 'creativity' as our cute little waiters and waitresses, little brother."

Sasuke turned around to face his older brother, Itachi smirking at Sasuke.

"You'd make a cute waiter."

"Shut up Itachi!"

The seniors laughed as Itachi simply tweaked his nose and left him standing there looking a bit silly, a perplexed expression on his face that no one saw coming. He quickly masked it with anger.

Naruto and Kiba whined at the prospect of being a bunch of waiters.

"Eh?! Where's the fun in being waiters?! I can't believe we're being graded on this!  
"I'll only be waiter if I can bring my dog Akamaru."

Temari huffed as she crossed her arms, finding the entire idea of being a bunch of waitresses preposterous.

"Why do we have to do this kind of crap? So stupid …"

Sakura and Ino squealed in delight.  
"We get to dress up right, right?! I can't wait to be dressed up like a waitress; I'd look so cute!"

"This is the best! Me and Sasuke can be the 'waiter and waitress couple'!"

Sasuke glared at Sakura, clearly disturbed by the prospect of being paired with her.

"Excuse me?! Don't spew stupid crap like that; you'll give the seniors ideas-"

"Jiraiya sensei! We should totally pair each of them together! So we have 'waiter & waitress' couples! It'd add to our 'Sweet Talk Café'!"

Sasuke glared at Sakura angrily as a senior girl smirked at the two.

"Now look what you f*cking brought up-"  
"Brilliant idea! Did you write that down kid? Good. Now let's discuss who should be paired with whom; yes! You in the back."

"Put the blond with the pink haired one!"

Another student from the far right stood up abruptly, shouting angrily in protest, "What?! F*ck you and your pairing; b*tches go with b*tches – put her with Itachi's little brother!"

The two bickered at one another as sides were taken among the class, a heated debate on which guy would look cuter with Sakura.

Sakura just stood there all smiley to be given so much attention as Sasuke gagged and Naruto frowned.

"YOU GUYS SHOULD JUST GO SUCK AN EGG; SASUKE DOESN'T DESERVE SAKURA – NARUTO AND SAKURA ALL THE WAY!"

"SCREW YOU SH*T HEADS, NARUTO AND SAKURA ARE SO NOT COMPATIBLE – SASUKE AND SAKURA WERE MADE FOR ONE ANOTHER SINCE THE BEGINNING OF TIME, DON'T GET YOUR HEAD IN THE CLOUDS MAKING ILLUSIONS FOR YOURSELF OF A NARUTO/SAKURA RELATIONSHIP – GET IT INTO YOUR F*CKING ANNOYING HEADS THAT SASUKE AND SAKURA ARE CUTER TOGETHER!"

Pushing began to get involved and Jiraiya only then stepped in to stop the seniors, assuring them that it'd be all sorted out with votes.

Temari didn't want to stick around any longer, not by the way the seniors were getting in heated debates about which junior looked cuter with who – God, it was creepy and … really freaky to watch a horde of students yak at one another about their pairings; it was a frightening yet stupid thing they did. Temari made a move for the door.

'_Better get the hell out of here while I still can!'_

She inched her way to the door, increasingly aware that the conversation had now narrowed down on Hinata; an argument arising between the two selected - Kiba and Naruto.

Temari's hand moved for the door, her insides screaming at her to just throw it open and make a run for it … but with their senior teacher Jiraiya around, she doubted she'd be able to handle him on her own. So she forced herself to take it slowly, moving unseen as her fingers curled around the door's edge, wedging their way through as she started to slide the door open … when someone's hand brushed against hers.

Startled, Temari shot a look at the person who looked back at her with equal surprise; Shikamaru.

Temari glared at Shikamaru, thinking quickly. She gestured at the floor, pointing sharply with her finger downwards before the two crouched behind the legs of their friends simultaneously as she hissed at him irritably.

"_What the hell is your problem!? I was trying to get out and you're wasting my time copying me!"_

Shikamaru blinked at Temari incredulously, before hissing back, mirroring her low whisper, "_Well excuse me madam, but I have a life too and a certain reputation I hold highly to myself. I don't want a bunch of seniors to squeal about how I match up with one of the girls here – it makes me want to run out screaming! So you back off and leave AFTER I get out first!"_

Temari slapped his hand that moved for the door, yanking him back down agitatedly, "_What reputation?! You don't HAVE reputation to keep! All you ever do is sit in the back of the classroom sleeping and dreaming about clouds, you have nothing to lose! But me on the other hand; I'm new in this school. To be already facing something as cheesy as 'couple pairings', its ridiculous! At the least, let ME go first!"_

Shikamaru gripped her wrist, hissing at her as he made a point, "_What's your reason for leaving?! If you're new here, nobody is going to care about you and not bother trying to pair you up with anyone - me on the other hand, I'm one of the popular five of the juniors. I can't have this couple pairing pinned on me, because then all this stupid crap like the other juniors (fan girls) will make such a big fuss over it and bug me all year about it! Geez, do you have any idea how annoying it is to have a girl jump out at you every corner you walk to begging you to date them?! Don't make me stay here to end up having ANGRY fan girls claw me down if I get paired with someone, besides, I'm not stopping you from leaving either! Just let me go first so that I have a guaranteed escape-"_

"_I want to escape too jerk!"_

"_I know, but let ME go first, and then you can come right behind me-"_

"_I don't think so, I'M going first!"  
"Temari-"_

"_Shikamaru you-"_

Suddenly the two realized how quiet it had become. They looked up to realize the shield that covered them composed of their friends' legs had disappeared; leaving them exposed as they sat crouching on the ground yakking at one another for everyone to see. The seniors were grinning and their friends had the same look on their faces.

"Trying to ditch us to let US face it alone huh?"

Kiba smirked.

"Think again; now YOU TWO got paired!"

Temari and Shikamaru pointed at one another in shock as they exclaimed, "WHAT THE F*CK?! WHY AM I PAIRED WITH THIS B*TCH!?"

Jiraiya shook his head, his pen tapping his clipboard impatiently.

"Now, now, I can't do anything to change these plans, let's leave them the way they are – you all are giving me a headache."

Temari glared at Shikamaru before hissing, "I so don't like these conditions."

Shikamaru eyed her warily before adding, "Just don't do anything stupid around me, geez this is troublesome ….!"

* * *

Shikamaru was now lounging with his friends at Naruto's house, exhausted from the seniors for messing around with them and bossing them around – it was not fun.

Shikamaru stretched out on Naruto's couch with his ear buds in his ears listening to his music from his Smartphone, yawning as he felt sleep tug at his eyelids.

"Mmm … tired."

Choji who sat next to him munching on chips nodded.

"Yeah, we all are. I swear, I think I lost some calories just listening to the seniors talk about random crap; seniors are so weird!"

Naruto laid sprawled exhausted on the floor; the senior girls had the most fun with him, since he was the easiest to trick and the one quicker to anger; boys like Naruto they loved to tease. Naruto however didn't enjoy it and the moment he opened up his home to him and his friends, he passed out on the living room floor where he now snored soundly.

Sasuke and Neji were discussing over some answers to their homework as Lee amused himself to an action movie starring a few of his favorite actors of which he would enthusiastically call out to, saying things like, "THAT'S RIGHT! KICK HIS BUTT! BEAT HIM UP, BEAT HIM UP! RIGHT, RIGHT, RIGHT, NO, NO, - GO LEFT! THAT'S RIGHT! NOW BRING UP YOUR KNEE AND …. YES! HAHAHAHAHA, THAT'S HOW YOU DO IT!"

Kiba chucked an empty soda can at Lee's head, grumbling as he moaned, "Aw shut up Lee! I left the school to escape all that screaming and squealing – I did NOT leave school to listen to you shout encouragingly to a bunch of actors on TV that can't even hear you-"

"**GET THE GUN!"**

"HEY, ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING?! D*MN IT LEE, SHUT UP!"

Kiba then charged Lee, the two wrestling over the ground as Lee pronounced, "OH HO! YOU DARE CHALLENGE ME KIBA? RIGHT! LET US FIGHT AND SEE WHO IS STRONGER!"

"D*MN IT LEE, I'M NOT CHALLENGING YOU – I JUST WANT TO **SHUT YOU UP IDIOT!**"

Naruto whined from where he slept, rolling on his stomach mumbling, "Eh … shut up guys … so loud … eh-heh … ramen …"

Shikamaru shook his head at the two boys wrestling and Naruto who was now mumbling with a stupid grin on his face about ramen.  
"How did I ever become friends with these guys?"

Choji chomped down on another chip before smiling, "The world works in such weird ways."

* * *

"I hate this project."

Temari looked up from her phone holding out her hand for a high-five.

"I don't know where the real Ino went, but by God, I love this Ino better. Give me a high-five."

Ino gave her a numb high-five, unsure if to take Temari's comment as an insult or a compliment.

"Um … okay? But seriously guys, this is stupid; why couple pairings?! And why am I paired up with Kiba?!"

Tenten looked up from her laptop before pointing out, "Hey now, don't worry. Kiba is popular right? He's not going to destroy your reputation. Besides, it's not like you two like each other or anything so it shouldn't bother you."

Ino gave Tenten a withering look.

"Easy for you to say; you actually got paired up with someone you wanted! Neji!"

Tenten blushed, closing her laptop forcefully before hissing, "I don't LIKE Neji, I just happen to prefer him over the other boys. Don't get any ideas in that head of yours Ino."

Temari watched in amusement as Ino ignored Tenten, whining loudly, "Ugh! I wanted to be paired with Sasuke! I really did … but that f*cking d*mn piece of sh*t-"

Hinata turned pink at Ino before clapping her hands over her ears and running out of the room, locking herself in the bathroom.

"-of a b*tch took him! That *sshole, wait until I f*cking punch her to death tomorrow, I swear I will-"

Temari deliberately pressed a cold can of soda up to Ino's forehead, "Cool it chick, you're going to pop a blood vessel that way. If you keep cussing like that, Hinata is never going to get out of the bathroom and Sakura might pick a fight with you."  
Ino laughed insanely, "Oh please, I'll be the one landing a punch on her first!"

Temari sighed.

'_Yeah, that's why you shunned her after school and dragged all of us except her into your house, what am I even doing here?'_

Tenten tried to coax Hinata to unlock the door, telling her it was okay and that Ino had stopped cursing, but Hinata refused to open the door, declaring that Ino might rip loose again with her cursing and Hinata didn't want to be there to hear it.

Tenten gave up and sat back down beside Temari.

"Well she's never going to get out of there; nice job Ino."  
"What~? I just said whatever was on my mind, that's all."  
"Sometimes it's best to keep that to yourself Ino."

"Whatever, I didn't mean to get her holed up in there anyway Tenten, stop looking at me as if it's my fault."

Temari looked down at her phone as she clicked on a message sent by Kankuro:

_KANKURO: WHERE R U? Y R U NOT HOME? ANSWER D*MNIT!_

Temari texted him back quickly.

_TEMARI: I'm at a friend's house, I won't be back until l8r._

_KANKURO: What?! A friend's house? Holy sh*t, male or female? ANSWER ME TEMARI!  
TEMARI: 4 GOD'S SAKE KANKURO, __**FEMALE! I HAVE FEMALE FRIENDS!**_

_KANKURO: U better, 'cause if u went to a guy's house, I would've sent Gaara after u. U knw how he is about u and the opposite sex!_

_TEMARI: Keep ur pants on boy; I'm not w/ a guy right now. I told u, I'm w/ my friends who are girls._

_KANKURO: …._

_TEMARI: I AM._

_KANKURO: Ok, I trust u sis. Just when are u getting home? I'm hungry and Gaara doesn't want to cook 2night._

_TEMARI: I should be around be4 dinner, 4 now, eat a snack._

_KANKURO: Fine. But u better make me dinner be4 u go to bed 2night, or I will tell Gaara that u hung out w/ a guy last night – which is a total lie, but Gaara won't take any chances now will he?_

_TEMARI: U try something like that and I will pluck ur eyebrows out, manicure ur hands and feet, and shave off all ur hair._

_KANKURO: Thxs sis! Feeling the luv, Kankuro out!_

Temari finished texting Kankuro around the time Tenten had asked her a question, "…so Temari, how do you feel about it?"

Temari gave them blank looks, asking, "Sorry, I wasn't really listening. Texting my brother, can you explain that question in more detail …"  
Ino grinned at Temari with her head resting on her hands.

"We were asking if you liked being paired up with Shikamaru."

Temari made a face.

"Him? Please, you have no idea how badly I would rather die than be seen with him."  
Tenten frowned.

"Why? He's such a great guy. Even if he is a bit on the lazy side."

Temari gave her a look.

"Which is why I don't like him. Seriously, I don't know what the fan girls see in him; he's lazy, irresponsible, rude, and an evil teaser; he has all the bad qualities in a guy in my opinion."

Ino rolled her eyes.  
"Oh, think what you will Temari. I'll have to agree to Kiba on this, you two will hook up before the end of the school year. Just you guys count on it."  
Temari smirked.

"Oh yeah? Wanna bet on it?"

Ino grinned, getting interested as she asked, "Oh? You offering? What is it?"  
Temari pointed bluntly down on the table before them.

"Well for one, I'm betting to say that I WON'T hook up with Shikamaru before the end of the school year. In fact – never. And if I win, you have to go out with Kiba."

Ino paled, then she shook her head.

'Oh geez, no, sorry but that's a bit too much-"  
"But if YOU win, I'll publically kiss him, take you to a three-day shopping trip and I'll be paying every time, and I'll even throw in an extra IOU favor that you get to ask me to do for you."

Temari knew that was awfully a lot to bet, but she was willing to do so because she wanted Ino to take the bait. Besides, this was her chance to prove to Ino and every other person who believed that they were a 'cute couple' was wrong and Temari was confident to believe they would never hook up; simply because she knew for a fact that she'd never fall in love with the lazy ass.

Ino suddenly brightened, taking the bet instantly.

"Okay girl, now THAT'S a bet, I'm in!"

Tenten shook her head.

"You two are so weird …"

Ino and Temari shook hands as if to seal the deal and Hinata opened the bathroom door upon hearing the bet.

"T-Temari … I wouldn't. W-when I-Ino makes a b-bet, she d-does whatever it t-takes to s-secure that b-bet in her f-favor-"

Ino cut her off, laughing manically over Hinata's voice to cover her words.

"OHOHOHOHOHOHOHO, Hinata~! You and me need to have little chat~! Let's first discuss about you and NARUTO~!"

Hinata blushed before closing the door again, locking it just in time before Ino slammed into the door.

Ino spent some time clawing at the door and hissing at Hinata to get out, the whimpering Hyuuga refusing to open the door.

Ino was still trying to get Hinata out the bathroom as the evening grew closer, and eventually, Temari got bored halfway through and stood up to leave.

"I got to go; my brothers are probably starving themselves to death so they can be extra cranky at me when I get home. I have to go now."

Ino pouted.

"What?! Already? Aw~! But we were having so much fun~!"

'_You're the one interrogating Hinata about stuff I could care less about. Poor Hinata, she sounds like she's being tortured.'_

Tenten raised a hand to Temari, swallowing some chips she had consumed.

"Bye!"

Hinata called out to Temari from inside the bathroom.

"G-Goodbye T-Temari …"

Ino shrugged.

"Eh, whatever. See you tomorrow at school Temari!"

'_I hope I catch the flu so I don't have to suffer your ranting with Sakura.'_

"Bye."

Temari left Ino's house and walked down the road as she navigated through the streets to her own home.

She turned around the corner and frowned as she looked around.

"Wait … this is, did I take the wrong turn?"  
Temari turned in a circle with a perplexed expression on her face. It was getting dark and she was still nowhere near her home …

"Crap, I need to call Kankuro now … it's going to be so embarrassing!"

She waited impatiently for Kankuro to pick up the phone and cursed at his message, "_Kankuro here. Leave a message after the beep please."_

Temari hung up, not bothering to try Gaara because he NEVER answered his phone – or in particular – used his phone except for emergencies. Temari turned to walk back down the road when she ran into a tall looming figure.

Temari was tempted to scream and punch the stranger, but before she could, a hand shot out and grabbed the wrist that was pulled back to punch him, a voice easing her nerves.

"Whoa, whoa, cool is there! It's just me, Shikamaru."

Temari felt her blood flow once again, heat rushing through her in relief as she sighed, her heartbeat racing.

"Sh*t! You scared the living crap out of me!"

Shikamaru gave her a quirky grin.

"Did I now? I never knew I was such an intimidating person."

"Dream on lazy ass."

"Anyway, what are you doing out here so late at night? Do you have any idea what kind of people hang out on streets after this time?"  
He leaned in close to her with a teasing grin.

"Creepy people. Stalkers, gangsters, jerks, rap-"

"I KNOW, I KNOW! SO BE QUIET ALREADY!"

He kept the smile on his face before continuing, "Okay then, if you know all this, why are you out of your house?"

Temari sputtered before resolving to tell the truth, finding that if she lied about her being lost (AGAIN) he'd think she was one of these creepers in the night …

"I-I … I got lost."

Shikamaru stared at her for a while, dumbfounded by her blunt response as she looked away flushing with embarrassment. Shikamaru couldn't help but wonder, _'again? What is wrong with this chick, getting lost every single time…?'_

"You really have a bad sense of direction don't you?"

"S-shut up! It's not my fault I don't live here originally! It takes time to adjust!"

Shikamaru couldn't help but chuckle behind his hand, pissing off Temari as he did so.

"FOR GOD'S SAKE, I KNEW YOU WERE GOING TO LAUGH! GET OUT OF MY WAY, I'LL FIND MY WAY HOME MYSELF-"

"'I'll find my way home myself'? You were expecting me to take you home?"

Temari stared at Shikamaru before realizing the error in her own words.

'_Crap! I made it seem like I wanted him to take me home! Geez, real smooth Temari! Real smooth!'_

"Uh, no. No, no, this is a misunderstanding, I SO did NOT mean to say that-"

"Say whatever you want, I guess I'll have to take you home now, regardless if you wanted me to or not."

Temari gave him a disturbed expression.

"Huh? Why?"  
"Because of your brothers. If they found out I met you earlier this night and just left you to wander around trying to find your home by yourself … they'd blame ME for anything that happens to you overnight. Which trust me, a LOT of things can happen over one night."

Temari crossed her arms, glaring at Shikamaru angrily.

"I can handle myself."

"Really now? Can you find your way home? Do you know your way from here?"

"I-"  
"No right? So just swallow your pride for once and let's go."

Temari gawked as Shikamaru smartly turned on his heel and walked down the road, walking a few paces away before looking back at her expectantly.

"Well? You coming or not?"  
Could you believe this guy?! There was no way Temari would follow him; her dignity wouldn't let her.

She stomped in place and stubbornly crossed her arms again looking the other way, pouting slightly as she muttered, "God no … I'm SO not following you."

Shikamaru eyed her before sighing.

"Troublesome woman … here,"

He walked back to Temari's side before grasping her hand firmly, yanking her forward so suddenly that she stumbled forward and found herself walking with Shikamaru – his hand tightly gripping hers.

She blushed as he grinned.

"Instead of standing there stupidly and being so arrogant about this, just stay quiet and follow okay? It's getting really late by now …"  
Temari only noticed how late he meant by looking at the lampposts that eerily shined their light across the road against the black sky – Temari's heart jumped a little at the thought of stubbornly rejecting Shikamaru and if he had left … she hated the dark.

As if he had read her mind he asked out of the blue, "Are you afraid of the dark?"

Temari bit her lip, unwilling to answer that question.  
"O-of course not! Why would I? Pah! Scared of the dark? Such a childish question …"

To be honest, she was. Just a little. She never liked the dark mostly because it made her feel insecure and she always felt like someone was there in the dark … watching her … waiting to attack …

"Really? I wouldn't be surprised if you're scared of the dark though. I've never met a girl who has never been afraid of the dark."

Temari looked at Shikamaru oddly, wondering what kind of a statement that was.

"Excuse me? Are you comparing me with other girls?!"

"Hmm? Oh no, no, I'm just pointing out that being scared of the dark is pretty common and is nothing to be ashamed of. For example, I used to be scared of girls."

'_What the f – scared of girls?!'_

"How is that possible?"  
Shikamaru shrugged.

"Girls are bothersome. Annoying, selfish, boastful, loud, and arrogant; not to mention stupid…"

Temari was tempted to slap him, had it not been that Shikamaru added, "You wouldn't believe how freaked out I was when I first met you. Loud, annoying, arrogant, stubborn – you were always bothering me and finding me when I went off somewhere to hide and rest in peace; for heaven's sake, you were like a demon following me around and that only promoted my initial fear in girls. No matter where you go; girls will always find you."  
Temari was no longer tempted to slap him; she wanted to punch him, "Oi … if you keep talking about how I'm awful, I swear I will-"

"But after a while, I got used to you and I was able to forget about my fears on girls. In fact, looking back on it, it makes me want to laugh at how silly it all was. Being scared of girls ... ridiculous."

Suddenly he stopped walking and grinned at Temari, she gave him a look of surprise.

"Why are you looking at me like that-"

"Just thinking about how you should thank me."  
"Why should I-"  
"Since you were hopelessly lost, you couldn't have gone home without my help. So for one, a thank you for taking you home, two, a thank you for bothering to, and lastly …"  
He leaned forward to her, smiling at her face as he bluntly added, "… a thank you for keeping you distracted from your fear of the dark."

Temari blinked in surprise as she looked behind her; her home lit brightly before her as she stammered.

"B-But, how did you, wait. You tricked me?!"

Shikamaru smiled.

"No, it's not really tricking. I just kept you focused on me as I walked you home so that you wouldn't have to think about the dark and get consumed by your own fear. If that had happened and I wasn't around, I bet you that you'd be crying off somewhere in the dark unable to get home."  
Temari's heart jumped in her throat at the thought of something so scary, God, to be surrounded by utter darkness and unable to get home to comfort … now THAT was scary.

Shikamaru coughed in his hand as he added, "Oh, and uh, can you let go of my hand now? You're kind of squeezing a bit too tight …"  
Temari looked down at her hand where Shikamaru had loosened his grip, meaning to drop her hand after bringing her home, but Temari had clutched his hand with hers while she had zoned out picturing the possible, and frightening situation she could've been in. She blushed now and dropped his hand hastily, crossing her arms as she muttered, "W-Whatever! Just go already …"

Shikamaru looked at her a bit in concern; she was shaking slightly and seemed off, her eyes casted around her uncharacteristically as if the dark would attack her.

"Geez, you okay? You're acting like you're about to see a ghost …"

Temari paled as Shikamaru fed her wild imagination, her fear doubling at the mention of ghosts. She nearly choked on her words as she spat, "Just leave. Thank you for taking me home. I appreciate it. Now PLEASE LEAVE."

Shikamaru suddenly pulled her arms apart, his hands sliding over hers – steady and warm – to stop her hands from shaking. He smiled at her genuinely.

"Heh, for a tough girl like you, I suppose there really ARE soft sides to them."

Temari hissed at him, snatching her hands away, momentarily forgetting about her fears.  
"Shut up Nara! I can still beat the crap out of you!"

Shikamaru rolled his eyes, laughing at her comment.

"Oh just you try and you might be surprised at what I can do."

Temari glared at her shoes as she kept her eyes away from Shikamaru's, unwilling to let him see embarrassment and fear in her eyes; she had shown her vulnerable side to Shikamaru, being scared of the dark and getting lost – twice – and having to face embarrassment for taking her home, she was feeling overwhelmed and suddenly, she felt something soft on her forehead. Shikamaru has kissed her on the forehead.

Temari blushed, snapping her head up with a hand on her forehead she exclaimed, "What the hell?! What was that for?!"

Shikamaru grinned at her cheekily.

"Ah, THERE'S the scary ass chick I know."

Temari held up a fist, REALLY tempted to punch him now.

"Nara … you're REALLY trying my patience now!"

He laughed, skipping out of harm's way before waving over his shoulder.

"Whatever troublesome. Glad you're home safe by the way. Work on that fear of yours, see you tomorrow!"

Temari blushed as he walked off, her hand rubbing her forehead where his lips had left her skin tingling.

"That little … b*stard …"

"Oh yeah, you're one little b*stard all right."

Temari turned around to see Kankuro glaring at her – appearing absolutely furious.

"Oh, hi Kankuro."

"Hi?! HI?! ALL YOU HAVE TO SAY IS HI!? DO YOU HAVE ANY F*CKING IDEA HOW LONG YOU'VE BEEN OUT?! FIRST YOU TELL ME YOU WENT TO A FRIEND'S HOUSE AND THAT IT WOULDN'T TAKE LONG, THEN YOU TOLD ME YOU'D BE HOME BEFORE EVENING, THEN YOU WALK HOME WITH A **GUY **ALONE, AND YOU LET HIM **F*CKING KISS YOUR FOREHEAD – I'M GOING TO KILL THAT B*TCH WHEN I SEE HIM AGAIN!**"

Temari gathered the urges of wanting to punch Shikamaru and directed it to Kankuro, punching him instead as she shouted, "SHUT UP IDIOT! IT'S NOT WHAT YOU THINK AND IF YOU JUST LET ME EXPLAIN THEN MAYBE YOU'D UNDERSTAND-"

"Please, MAKE me understand then."

Temari looked up at Gaara who stood angrily before the door, his red hair glowing in the eerie contrast of the dark outdoors and the light shining from the house; he didn't appear amused.

"G-Gaara …"  
"Get inside – both of you. You have a lot of explaining to do SISTER."

* * *

Temari shifted uncomfortably from where she sat on the sofa. It was times like this that she inevitably felt younger and inferior to her brothers; though she knew she did nothing wrong and that what had happened was NOT what they assumed to be, Gaara's angry expression was nothing to try and top.

"You told me you weren't dating."  
"I know, because I'm NOT."

"Then why did you come home with a guy?"  
"His name is Shikamaru and I didn't mean to. I got lost trying to come home and he ran into me and was nice and rude enough to take my home."

Gaara narrowed his eyes at her.

"Maybe so, but then why would he kiss you on the forehead? If I remember correctly, in this world, when a person kisses another person, it's a sign of affection. You two were pretty much looked like a couple to me."

Temari stammered, "W-what?! No! I swear; I'm not dating him! He just did that so he could … calm me down … I was scared of the dark."

Gaara blinked suddenly in surprise at his sister's words.

"You … you're still afraid of the dark?"  
Kankuro shot Gaara a look as Temari frowned.

"No, I just, sort of got a bit scared of the dark tonight; I was lost and it as getting darker and darker; I was scared to think that I'd still be outside there by now all alone and in the dark by now ... that's all."

Kankuro cracked a grin, crossing his arms he exclaimed, "Wow. My sister IS human after all."  
Temari threw a pillow at Kankuro.

"Stuff it puppet creep."  
Gaara stopped the two before simply asking, "Okay then, if you really aren't dating and that … KISS was nothing, tell me, do you feel anything towards this Nara guy?"

Temari blinked, a bit uneasy underneath her brother's intense glare.

"No …"

Gaara held her gaze before nodding, standing he then bluntly commanded, "Okay then. Now make us some food. Kankuro and I are hungry."

Kankuro nodded, pouting as he added, "Yeah! Since you came home late, we both suffered hunger and now that you're home, make some food for God's sake!"

Temari smiled before jumping up from the couch towards the kitchen, sighing as she shook her head, "Alright you fat pig, sit tight while I make something for your sorry butts."

* * *

Shikamaru woke up to a smoke alarm. Groaning he rolled over and looked at the clock with hands over his ears; six am.

"Sh*t … stupid alarm … dad must've burnt something again …"

He stood and threw on a pair of shorts and a shirt, yawning as he stumbled out the hall blinking spots out of his eyes.

"Dad! What the hell, what did you do this time?!"

Shikamaru hobbled down the stairs and found a rather stunned looking Asuma in his living room, a sheepish look on his face as he waved at him.

"Oh, hi Shikamaru."

He gave him an incredulous look.

"Asuma? What are you doing in my house? Don't tell me you brought one of your cigarettes inside and-"

"Yeah, I did. Sorry. How do I turn it off?"  
"Just … open the windows…"

After Asuma and Shikamaru opened the windows to let the smoke out, the alarm turned off as his father poked his head out of his bedroom.

"What did you do Shikamaru? Did you burn something – oh? It's Asuma."

Shikaku greeted Asuma before asking, "What are you here for Asuma? Do you need my son?"

Asuma nodded an apologetic nod of his head.

"Yes, I'm sorry I barged in without permission. I was only trying to wake up Shikamaru and not to disturb you and your wife."

Shikaku shook his head, telling him it was alright.

"No, no, all is well. Just take my son and be on your way. I'm sure you're busy."

Asuma nodded and patted Shikamaru on the shoulder.

"Thank you. Now, get ready to go out Shikamaru, you're needed at the student council meeting this morning. Neji insisted that you came."

Shikamaru nodded, yawning as he stretched.

"Ah right, Neji being president … he can get really bossy some times, how annoying."

Asuma waited downstairs as Shikamaru pulled his stuff together and changed into some decent clothes before addressing his father goodbye and walked with Asuma to the school.

Neji was waiting for them when they arrived.

"You're late Shikamaru."  
"Sorry, Asuma pissed off our smoke alarm and it was kind of a mess there."  
"Hmm, alright then. Sit down and we need to discuss our plans about the festival."  
Shikamaru sat down beside Neji and the other officers of the student council before muttering, "We have more stuff to do? Isn't the projects bad enough …"

Neji announced loudly as he drew everyone's attention back to him, "Now I know everyone has their own 'projects' to do, but as student council, we have to take part of the festival in a larger scale other than our projects. In order to manage the peace during the festival, we need to assign a group of 'security' members and a team of clean up services after the festival. I'll be in charge of leading half of our group to clean up duty, those who are under Shikamaru's command will act as 'security' during the festival to make sure that the rowdy ones are kept in check. Any questions?"

When no one bothered to ask, Neji picked up a clipboard with the list of names as he read off their names and their jobs.

Shikamaru sighed as he rested his head on the table, moaning at the thought of acting as something as bothersome as 'security'.

'_Geez, can't a guy have a break? This student council stuff is really cutting into my rest …'_

Afterwards, Shikamaru and Neji had to discuss how the procedures at the festival would be like and the bell rang; signaling the end of the meeting and Shikamaru would have to begin his patrolling around the school.

"Aw great …"  
"Keep up the hard work Nara, don't forget about patrolling."  
"Yeah, I know."

Neji smiled at Shikamaru as he pulled on the sleeve band that marked him as a 'patroller'.

"See you in class."  
"Yeah … class."

"Oh and Shikamaru …"  
"Yes?"  
Neji hesitated, but then he shook his head, a smile on his face as he waved it away.

"Eh, never mind. I'll let you figure it out yourself."  
'_What is he up to now?'_

"Oh … okay?"

Shikamaru and Neji walked out of the room and went their separate ways, Shikamaru lazily going through a mental map in his head as he planned in his mind.

'_I guess I could go around the west wing first, lately there seems to be a bunch of boys holing themselves in the bathrooms trying to skip class. After that the east, then maybe the south, some girls are probably still by their lockers gossiping …. Then I'll finish up at the north end so I can get to class easier that way…'_

Shikamaru clasped his hands up and behind his head as he sighed, wondering why he always got stuck with the most troublesome jobs.

The halls were empty now that the students had gotten to their classes; the only thing he enjoyed about patrolling was that he rarely had to do anything. He got to enjoy walking around the school without anyone to bother him, simply enjoying the solitude of walking around alone …

Then he saw her again. She was standing in the middle of an intersection in the hall with a map in her hands, a marker in her right hand as she marked something on her map, her brow furrowed as she mumbled to herself as Shikamaru made his way closer behind her.

"… so the south end is over there and the east side … "

"Wow. You actually got something right."  
Temari whirled around and attempted to stab her marker in his eye when Shikamaru jumped backwards out of her reach.

"Whoa! Geez, can you just STOP trying to kill me every time I meet you?!"

Temari tensed before dropping her arms to her side, sighing in frustration.

"God, can YOU stop sneaking up on me?! Seriously …"

Shikamaru gave her an apologetic grin.

"Sorry."  
"No you're not."  
"Whatever."

Shikamaru eyed the map and marker in her hand and noticed she had marked a few notes and here and there and he gave her quizzical expression while gesturing at her map.

"So …"

Temari swatted the map on Shikamaru's face before he could speak, this caused him to look surprised and she grinned.  
"For once Nara, I'm NOT lost. I have a good reason why I'm out here in the halls out of class this time."

"Oh? Really now. And what's that?"  
Temari pulled on her arm band, identical to Shikamaru's. He connected the dots and looked genuinely surprised.

"Eh? You're patrolling? But I'm the only one …"

Shikamaru remembered Neji meaning to tell him something before shaking his head and telling him that he'd find out on his own.

'_Aw geez … Neji you…'_

Temari shrugged, letting her arm drop back down her side as she explained, "Yeah, I don't know why either. But turns out that Gaara's been accepted into the student council yesterday and he proposed to put me on the patrol team because he made a rather good point saying that you wouldn't be able to do your patrolling effectively. He said 'for example; a bunch of girls are skipping class in the girl's restroom. Even though he's authorized to just walk in there and drag them all out, morally it's a bit taboo to do something like that. So to make things simpler, why not add in a girl in the patrol in case gender situations such as that wouldn't be an issue?' To be honest, I don't want to be patrolling; ESPECIALLY with you, so don't get any ideas that I volunteered willingly."

Shikamaru stared at Temari before shaking his head.

"Geez, I have to patrol with YOU yapping beside me? Great … my day just keeps getting better and better …"

Temari was about to snap something at him before Shikamaru grabbed her arm, dragging her down the hall before mumbling, "Crap, we're almost out of time. Better check the halls quickly."

Suddenly a door slid open to one of the classrooms and Shikamaru and Temari stared blankly in surprise at a bunch of giggling seniors; the same seniors from Jiraiya's class.

"Aww! Look at the two! Patrolling together, how cute~!"

"What did I tell you? They totally make a cute match; even better once they get into the outfits Lara made last night. I can't wait for the festival next week; I'm going to take a BUNCH of pictures!"

The seniors laughed as Shikamaru groaned, dragging Temari after him around the corner and away from the cooing seniors, Temari a bit red at their words.

"Geez! Those seniors are just so weird!"

Shikamaru rolled his eyes.

"Typical seniors, the love teasing juniors and sophomores. Just ignore them."

Temari frowned to herself as she walked beside Shikamaru down the hall.

They fell into silence as they scanned the halls, stopping a few times to ask lingering students where they were off to and for their hall passes.

They eventually crossed paths with Kiba and Hinata.

"Oh! Shikamaru! Temari! How you two doing?"

Kiba and Hinata walked up to the two and Shikamaru eyed the two questionably.

"Good. Where are you two going?"  
Kiba grinned.

"Ah, well Hinata here recently fainted in her last class, she said she was fine but everyone said she had to go to the nurse so I have to take her."  
Temari asked Kiba suddenly, "Was Naruto there?"  
Kiba blinked in surprise before nodding, Hinata blushing at Temari behind him.

"Uh yeah, why'd you ask?"  
Temari shot Hinata a knowing smile.

"Just wondering."

Shikamaru eyed the two suspiciously before shrugging.

"Whatever. Just don't think about ditching class after taking Hinata to the nurse. Where's your pass?"

Kiba fished it out of his jacket and handed it for Shikamaru to inspect before he handed it back approvingly.

"Okay, you're good. Go on."

Kiba began to move with Hinata before he turned back around calling out to them.

"Oh! By the way, have you two heard? Some seniors put up a notice on the school website about their little 'Sweet Talk Café'. It's hilarious! Every day until the festival they're posting something about the pairings; starting with you two!"

Temari and Shikamaru stood stunned as Kiba howled laughing down the hall, Hinata looking a bit disturbed at Kiba's outburst.

The two looked at one another and Temari cursed before grabbing her phone and pulling up the school website, clicking the link to the senior's flyer as Shikamaru looked over her shoulder at the screen.

The two suddenly shouting in shock.

"WHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTT~!"

Temari was tempted to throw her phone at the wall.

"HOW THE HELL DID THEY GET THAT PICTURE?! I BROKE KIBA'S PHONE! I SWEAR, I DID!"

Shikamaru grabbed her phone before flipping through the various photos of Shikamaru and Temari; the first one they had seen was when Temari and Shikamaru were hiding from her brothers; but by the way Kiba had taken the photo, it had made them appear as if she was hitting on him. The seniors had even bothered to post the picture gallery's title as, '_ShikaTema!'_

Shikamaru breathed in both mortification and in surprise at the picture.

"Damn …"

He didn't want to admit it, but they looked sort of good in the picture together. Really good ….

Shikamaru stared at one particular photo in shock, wondering how in the world it was caught on camera …

"Sh*t! How did they get this photo?!"

Temari snatched her phone back and looked at the photo; a still photo of when Shikamaru had kissed Temari on the forehead in front of her house.

'_Sh*t! Holy sh*t!'_

"WHO THE HELL TOOK THAT PICTURE?! WE WERE ALONE THERE WEREN'T WE?!"

Shikamaru observed the photo, noting skeptically as he said, "Well judging from where this photo was taken, someone was hiding in the bushes while taking it. See the leaves framing the picture? They took it while in the bushes."

Temari cursed, flipping through the various photos, which weren't as bad as the first two, with disgust.

"Who would take these pictures?! This is outrageous …"

Shikamaru simply sighed, shaking his head in despair.

"Great. Now everyone is going to think that I'm in love with a hot-headed scary ass chick with issues-"

"SHIKAMARU NARA! CLAM IT OR I'LL PLUG IT FOR YAH!"

"Chill girl! Chill! I'm just saying, this is going to ruin my life – all those girls are going to come running after me crying and sh*t, ugh, my life is a never-ending cycle of trouble being around you."

Temari glared at Shikamaru.

"Ha! Lucky for you, your fan girls won't kill you about it; I'm probably going to have something like an 'Anti-ShikaTema' committee and hate mail. Guh! They might even try to murder me or something … great!"

Shikamaru laughed out loud, his hands in his pockets as Temari glared at him with her phone in her hands.

"What's so funny?"  
"Sorry, I just find it funny that you'd think that the girls of this school can be capable of doing anything other than form a hate group against you; they certainly can't even throw a good punch."

Temari snorted as a smile formed on her face.

"Heh, you're right. They probably couldn't."

Temari sighed, yet still in clear outrage at the post on something as bothersome as 'ShikaTema'; what was wrong with these seniors?! Didn't they have a life?

Temari gave Shikamaru a smirk.

"Well, at least we know that this stuff isn't true and that this ShikaTema business is just a bunch of claptrap. Right?"  
Shikamaru nodded, giving her a smile.  
"Yup, nothing but a bunch of crap."

Little did they know that maybe they'd realize how wrong they were … neither did any of them see what was coming next.

* * *

**Sorry that the last part sounded SOOOOO cliche, something that would be put in an annoying story where you'd end up like, "Wtf? I hate crap like this!" and throw the book across the room. (At least I do that whenever a cliche sentence like the last one of this chapter appears.)**

**I know a few people who hate these kind of cliche wordings and I'm sorry if you're one of them. But if you like them, great. But I personally don't like writing them and I couldn't think of anything else better to write so to my disappointment, I had to put that sentence there since I sort of ran out of filler ideas for this chapter. As I said before, this chapter is a bit icky and lacks many things and has SOOO many flaws, and I apologize for that. I'm sorry and I'll work harder next time. If you're bored with story, check out my other one called 'The True Meaning of Value' if you're a NaruHina fan; lots of people like it and I'm thinking if you're a NaruHina fan too, then you might as well. **

**Chapter four will be out sometime in the next few days I hope. The sooner the better since my winter break is coming to an end and after that, I'll have a harder time getting on and I might not even be able to be on it for months on end! :( Makes me sad to think that. So I hope I get a lot done now so you guys have something to read and enjoy. Happy New Year's eve!**


	4. Pictures, Soup, and Clothes

**Chapter 4 is out! Hooray! Though I do warn you guys that it'll be a bit too much on the detail when it comes to describing their clothing for the festival and I'm sorry if such excessive detailing annoys you guys. I promise I won't overkill it again. I apologize if there are any mistakes in this chapter, and if you'd like to point them out, please do. It'll help me when I continue to write more chapters for you guys.**

**Enjoy and I hope all of you had a fantastic New Years! Here is Chapter 4:**

* * *

**Chapter 4: Pictures, Soup, and Clothes**

Ino was giggling nonstop throughout biology while she kept shoving her phone at Temari's face.

"Look! Look! There's you and Shikamaru in the corner, and there's you two walking down the hall together, and there's-"  
"PUT. THE. PHONE. DOWN."

Temari forcefully gripped Ino's wrist before pulling her hand back to the table, her other hand turning off her phone. Ino pouted.

"Temari~! You're no fun."  
"Yeah, it's not fun. Not when you're giggling about a bunch of stupid pictures!"

Sakura giggled to herself as she looked at the pictures one her own phone.  
"Geesh Temari! What are you so upset about? You two look SOO hot in these pictures! Especially the one with you two in the corner, now that's hot, hot, hot-"

"SAKURA-"

"P-please! Everyone? S-stay q-quiet. The t-teacher w-will hear you g-guys-"

"What is going on here?"

Kurenai, the teacher, stood by their table tapping her ruler in her hand, her eyes scanning the four suspiciously. Temari simply spoke the truth, "These girls are bothering me nonstop about a bunch of photos the seniors posted on the school website. I was simply trying to tell them to stop."

Kurenai stared at Temari before laughing behind her hand.

"Oh, you're THAT girl. I see, I see."

The class laughed at the sight of their teacher laughing, bringing a blush to Temari's face as the teacher tried to stop laughing while telling the class to be quiet.

"Hahahaha –class, class now really – bwahahaha – CLASS!"

She glared around the room to shut them up before sighing, smoothing her hair before giving Temari an apologetic smile.

"I'm sorry dear, I can't help myself when something so … CUTE happens around school. It always makes me laugh. I apologize for being rude."  
Temari slouched in her seat, trying to hide her face from her grinning classmates; especially from the one jerk sitting across the room with one eye on her over his arm from where he sat sleeping.

"No, no, you're fine."

Kurenai turned to Sakura and Ino and held out her hand, Ino eyed her hand suspiciously before asking, "What are you-"  
"Phones ladies. Hand them over."  
Sakura yelped n surprise as Kurenai plucked her phone out of her hand and snatched Ino's off the table. She put them in her pocket before turning to the class announcing, "Now, if any of you students have your phone out in class to take another look at those pictures, I will take up your phones and you won't be able to have them back until after school. Are we clear?"

The class replied in the classic answer, "Crystal."

Kurenai nodded approvingly before marching back to the front to continue her lesson while Sakura and Ino mumbled to themselves in disappointment, Hinata pink for being so close to being scolded by the teacher, and Temari buried her face in her arms – trying so hard to hide the blush from everyone else in the room.

* * *

Shikamaru kept his gaze on Temari who had now hid her face; she was kind of cute that way. He mentally slapped himself for saying that, instantly regretting his own words.

'_What am I saying?!'_

Choji elbowed Shikamaru and he lazily turned his gaze to him, Choji holding up a bag of snacks underneath the table to him.

"Want some?"  
Shikamaru shook his head at Choji's offer.

"Nah, I'm good."

He shrugged and resumed silently eating them under the table and away from the teacher's sight. Shino for one sat listening attentively to the teacher ramble on about biology and Shikamaru wasn't surprised; Shino enjoyed biology. Overall, he enjoyed science whenever they studied anything related to the environment or life.

Shikamaru sighed as he snuggled his face in his arms, his eyes lazily focusing on the screen that Kurenai was using to teach the class before his short attention span had his gaze drifting around the room. Once again, he found himself staring at Temari. She was still hiding her face and that made Shikamaru smile in his arms.

'_Eesh, she's sensitive.'_

Shikamaru didn't move his gaze from her; he sat throughout the whole class staring at her hair and the stupid four ponytails she always had them in. For once, Shikamaru wanted to pull them out of their hair bands and watch her hair fall down … he wanted to see her with her hair down for once. He wondered if she looked better with her hair down. Suddenly he whacked his head on the table, Choji and Shino eyeing him strangely as he grumbled to himself, "Ugh … stop it Shikamaru!"

Choji patted him on the shoulder with concern in his voice, "Um, Shikamaru? Are you alright?"  
"Eh? Oh, I'm fine."  
"You sure you don't need to go the nurse?"  
"No, no, I'm fine."

Shino snorted before turning back to look at the screen and Choji shrugged, refocusing his attention on his snacks as Shikamaru sighed, rubbing the sore spot on his forehead where he had banged himself on the table. Temari was consistently infesting his mind lately. After discovering about the photo incident, he couldn't stop thinking about her. He seriously needed a vacuum placed in his head to suck it all up and trash it; thinking spent a lot of energy and he didn't like using up energy on useless thoughts. Shikamaru groaned as the bell rang; finally. Lunch.

* * *

Temari stood up from her table sighing, "Okay, I'm going to get some lunch. Anyone coming with me?"

Ino and Sakura shook their heads.

"We already have ours; we packed ours this morning."  
"Yup."  
Sakura and Ino help up their lunch boxes as if to prove that and Temari looked over to Hinata hopefully.

"Hinata …?"  
She shook her head, an apologetic smile as she brought out her lunch.

"S-sorry Temari. I-I a-always pack my l-lunch …"

"What~? I have to go ALONE?!"

Ino waved at her with a sly smile.

"Bye-bye! Hope you run into Shikamaru."  
"Shut up Ino."

"Hey! Temari! I'll walk with you!"

Temari glanced behind her to see Tenten walking up towards them, greetings exchanged between her and the rest of the girls as she stood beside Temari.

"I was going to get some lunch myself; want to go together?"  
"Thank God; someone human to walk with me."  
Ino and Sakura looked at one another before realizing the insult was directed at them.

"Hey!"

Temari and Tenten walked away from the rest towards the lunch line, grabbing trays as they settled in the back.

"So, I heard about the photos."  
Temari groaned.

"Please … I've heard enough of the photos today, I don't want to hear about it again."  
"Sorry, I just wanted to say that I feel sorry for you. But you won't have to worry about it for long; everyone in this school has a short attention span and soon they'll move on to something else. Besides, by tomorrow, the seniors will have posted something new about a different couple pairing of theirs."

Temari grinned.

"Like you and Neji?"

Tenten blushed and Temari apologized.

"Sorry, I just had to make a point there."  
"N-No, no, it's fine … I understand what you were trying to say."  
"Say what?"

Tenten turned to look at Neji who had walked up behind her, his tray on his hip as he eyed the two girls.

"I heard my name."  
Tenten laughed uncharacteristically, "Hahahaha, no~! We didn't say your name! Right Temari? Right? We said, uh, 'Nephee'!"

"What the heck is a 'Nephee'?!"

Tenten hissed at Temari, "Play along please, for God's sake!"

Neji raised his eyebrows at the word.

"'Nephee'? Is that even a word?"

"O-of course it is! Silly Neji, you need to know about these things! It's uh, a new brand of – erm – clothes! Yeah, clothes!"

Neji sighed, shaking his head at Tenten.

"Why do I bother asking …?"

Naruto jumped over and slung an arm around Neji's neck, laughing as the girls stared at him in surprise.

"Silly Neji, she said your name of course! There's no such thing as a 'Nephee'!"

Sasuke walked over and grabbed Naruto and pulled him off Neji, sighing irritably.

"Geez Naruto, didn't your preschool teachers teach you to stop touching others? It's creepy watching you throw yourself at everyone."  
Kiba laughed as he spun his tray on his finger.

"Knowing Naruto, he probably can't even count to ten!"

"Shut up Kiba! I know my numbers!"

"Ha! You sound like a baby, 'Mommy, mommy! I know my numbers! Watch me!'-"

Kiba placed his tray under his arm as he made a silly face with one hand up as he counted down his fingers, "'One~, two~, twee-"

"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU KIBA!"

"Four~"

"COME HERE!"

Naruto chased Kiba around the cafeteria with a tray swishing menacingly for his head, Kiba laughing as he continued to say in his baby voice the numbers teasingly. Sasuke shook his head at the sight and Neji simply hid a smile. Temari sighed as she rubbed her temples.

"Eesh … can't they shut up for once?"  
"Hmm … knowing those two, no."

Temari shivered before looking behind her to see Shikamaru smiling lazily down at her, his hands in his pockets with a tray under his arm.

"Whazzup?"

"You … are seriously like a freaking ghost."

"Thank you."

"Guys, move on! The line is moving."

Tenten urged Temari and Shikamaru into the line and Temari uncomfortably moved along down the line with Shikamaru at her side. Her elbow kept brushing against his and she wanted to scream and bash her tray at Shikamaru's head for no apparent reason.

"_Ugh! This is KILLING me!"_

"Soup?"

"Excuse me?"

Shikamaru held up a bowl of soup at her face, smirking at her expression.

"The kind lady here asked you if you wanted some soup, weasel."

Temari blushed at his smirk and snatched the soup, spilling some over her fingers before cursing and dropping it completely, hot soup splattering over the two as the cafeteria lady rolled her eyes behind the counter.

"Oh good Lord …"

"Ack! Hot!"

"Idiot, it's not called 'soup' for nothing!"

Temari didn't even have the heart to glare at him; she was too embarrassed to. Her fingers hurt and soup was soaked through her shirt and stained her socks and slipped into her shoes – ugh, her day just couldn't get any worse.

The line moved on around them as the cafeteria lady handed them a wad of napkins to mop it up, Shikamaru squatting down in front of Temari, who was down on the ground holding her fingers to herself, holding out a few napkins to her.

"Here, clean yourself up."  
"Worry about yourself b*tch-"

"Oh shut up."

Temari stared at Shikamaru's sudden snap. He took a few napkins and took her hands in his roughly, wiping the soup off her hands as he clicked his tongue at her fingers.

"Eesh, you really burned them."

Temari kept silent, not wanting Shikamaru to snap at her again so rudely and she slowly became aware of the girls and boys whispering to one another watching him mopping her up, working slowly as he then worked on mopping up the soup from the ground.

"Well you're going to have to get a change of clothes."  
"So do you."

"I know."

Temari watched Shikamaru as he carelessly swiped at his own clothes before standing to wad up the clumped mess of napkins to a trash bin the cafeteria lady held up. A janitor irritably came over shooing the two away as he began mopping up the rest of which Shikamaru couldn't clean up. He grabbed Temari by her arm and jerked his head to the direction of the hall.

"Come on, I'll walk you to the nurse."

"Why the nurse?"  
"She has a collection of clothes she keeps to give to students who end up in situations like this. But she mostly keeps them because most of the girls and boys here violate the school dress code. But she'll let us have a change of clothes since we're an exception."

Temari glanced down at her clothes, finally realizing just how soaked she was and grudgingly agreed for once.

"Fine. But you don't need to follow me-"  
"Who says I was following you? I need to go too since you spilled it on me as well."

Temari mentally slapped herself. Why was she making such stupid comments?!

Temari bit her tongue as she walked side by side with Shikamaru stiffly down the hall, soup still clinging to her clothes which clung to her body like glue; the students eyeing them with suspicion as Shikamaru guided Temari down the hall.

"This way-"  
"I know which way the nurse is idiot. Don't forget, I'm a Patroller too."

"Oh yeah? Which section of the school are we in now then?"  
"E hall … wait … G hall? No, E hall … I'm pretty sure it was E hall …"  
Shikamaru shook his head, sighing in exasperation.

"A hall."

"Oh."  
"You still have a long way to go."  
"Shut up Nara!"

"For God's sake, call me Shikamaru. I hate it when people call me by my last name."  
Temari smirked at him.

"And that is the reason why I call you by your last name."  
"You keep annoying me and I'll ruin your life."  
"Oh yeah? Like you haven't already."  
He stopped walking, staring at her as she stared back at him in surprise.

"Those photos weren't my fault."  
There was an edge to his voice as he defensively spoke against her, Temari giving him a quizzical expression.

"Uh, I never said they were."  
"Well by the way you just said I already ruined your life, you're making it sound like it was."

"You're just assuming things. I didn't mean it like that."

"Did you now?"  
"Uh, duh."

Shikamaru kept his gaze on her before sighing.

"You're really messing with my life right now."  
"Join the party of 'f*cked up life'."

"Please stop cursing."

"That's like trying to tell your friend to stop eating."

"Don't bring Choji into this."

"I wasn't. I was simply making a statement."

"Whatever."

They reached the nurse's office and Shikamaru tapped on the door tentatively.

"Nurse Rin? We have a problem here."

The nurse looked up and blinked in surprise at the two; soup was still dripping from their clothes.

"Good grief, what happened to you two?"

Shikamaru jabbed thumb at Temari almost accusingly.

"Her. That's what happened."  
Temari slapped his hand away giving him a glare.

"Watch it Nara!"

Rin eyed the two before looking back down at her computer where she had been clicking through the photos that had been going viral in the school.

"Oh … you two."

The nurse looked away before hiding a smile behind her hand, irking both Shikamaru and Temari. So far, she was the second teacher to react like that.

"Sorry, I can't stop smiling when it comes to young love-"  
"WE ARE NOT IN LOVE."

The nurse blinked in surprise at the two; who both were giving one another disgusted looks.

"Oh, but you two seem so cute together-"  
Shikamaru simply held out his hand irritably, "Can we just PLEASE have a change of clothes? This soup is going to rot on me if I wait any longer."

The nurse mumbled to herself as she disappeared in the back and came back with a change of clothes for each.

"Here you go. The girl can go in the bathroom and you can stand out here to change. I'll be in the other room if you need me."

Shikamaru thanked her as she disappeared in a separate room to give them privacy to change; Temari hurried inside the bathroom and locked the door behind her, separating herself from Shikamaru finally.

"Finally! Away from him."

Temari sighed as she worked on peeling off her soup soaked clothes and grabbed a few paper towels in the bathroom to wipe herself off; sniffing her skin she made a face.

"Ugh, I'm going to smell like chicken soup for the rest of the day now."

* * *

Shikamaru stripped his clothes off as he changed into the clean pair of clothes the nurse had provided him, luckily for him; he wouldn't smell of chicken soup as strongly as it smelled on Temari. "Finally … away from her."

Shikamaru found a plastic bag in the nurse's cabinets and stuffed his soggy clothes into the bag before tying it off, wondering it'll end up rotting that way, but decided he'd deal with it when he got home. Shikamaru asked the nurse if she would hold on to it for him until he came back after school to take it, and she agreed. Shikamaru stood by the door unsure if he should wait for Temari or walk off back to lunch.

Well for one, if he left now he wouldn't have to deal with her again and get these crazy thoughts in his mind, but one the minus side, he'd be considered a jerk for walking off like that. But if he stayed, he'd have to deal with her mentally while she'd think he was being too considerate for her sticking around. Shikamaru groaned as he ran a hand through his hair.

"Even now she vexes my soul …"

The door suddenly clicked open as Temari poked her head out, glancing around she saw Shikamaru and held out a hand demandingly.

"Bag. Any bag."

"Get it yourself."

"B*tch."

She walked out and Shikamaru couldn't help but stare. She was dressed in uncharacteristic solid colors; dressed in a light violet t-shirt, a simple pair of short jeans, and her shoes were replaced with flip flops. She crouched on the ground rummaging through the cabinets looking for a plastic bag while mumbling to herself, the neckline of her shirt slipping lower to slightly show more of her neck and- Shikamaru abruptly turned to leave, Temari shouting after him, "Hey! Hey b*tch! Come back here and tell me where the plastic bags are! Hey, are you listening?!"

Shikamaru grumbled to himself feeling a slight blush creep on his face as he marched away heartlessly.

"What. Is. Wrong. With. Me?"

* * *

Temari hissed at Shikamaru's back as he made his cruel leave.

"Stupid freaking b*tch-"

"Do you need something?"

The nurse eyed Temari who was still looking through her cabinets and she apologized instantly.

"Sorry, I was looking for a plastic bag-"  
"Oh, um, they're in the cabinet next to you."  
Temari thanked her embarrassed as she pulled one out, stuffing her wet clothes into the bag she tied it up and the nurse held out her hand for it.

"I'll hold on to it for you until after school for you to pick it up."

"Oh, uh, thanks."

Temari stood, the nurse eyeing her shirt critically before biting her thumb.

"Um … that shirt is a little too big for you isn't it …"  
"Pardon?"  
"Uh, never mind … besides the other ones would be too small … you might want to watch that shirt of yours. It's a bit uh, loose."

Temari glanced down at her shirt before grimly nodding.

"Oh, yeah that. What do I say if the teachers try to make me come back here?"

"Oh, here."

The nurse brought out a sticker and held it out for her, three letters printed on the front that Temari raised her eyebrows at.  
"NOC?"

"It stands for 'No other choice.' The teachers know what it means."

"Um … okay. Thank you."

Temari gave the nurse a slight bow of her head and the nurse bit her lip when she did that.

"Aiee … don't do that. It gets worse."

Temari threw her arms in the air.

"What is wrong with this freaking shirt-"

"It's not the shirt; it's just a size too big. I need to stock up on mediums now ... you can leave now."

"Thank you anyway."

Temari grumbled to herself walking down the hall back to the cafeteria, a hand self consciously over her chest where the shirt dipped loosely, Temari was going to have to ask one of the girls if they had a jacket she could borrow. This was to uncomfortable for her. Temari stopped walking.

'_Oh God … I'm going to be walking straight to the cafeteria for all the others to see – f*ck!'_

Temari whipped out her phone and madly texted Ino and Sakura; that is until she remembered – Kurenai took up their phones.

"F*ck!"

Temari thought about texting her brothers to ask the girls, but then they'd wonder why and question her and she didn't want to tell them about the soup incident – it was embarrassing. She flipped through her numbers in her phone, trying to find someone suitable to text. Hinata wasn't an option; she didn't have a phone yet. She didn't have any of the boys' phone numbers to text them to ask the girls and she- wait. Temari flipped back to the last contact and stared at the name.

_SHIKAMARU NARA._

"When did, what the …"

Temari didn't remember asking him for his phone number or asking anybody in fact for his number. So why was … Temari was tempted to scream.

"INO~!"  
Temari growled before eating up her pride and texted Shikamaru, she'd chew out Ino later.

* * *

Shikamaru pulled out his phone as he glanced at the screen; _UNKNOWN. _Shikamaru frowned before opening the text. It was probably just an ad from his phone company about some kind of a new phone or deal out there and he was prepared to erase it when he saw a simple message displayed: _HEY B*TCH. CAN U HAND UR PHONE 2 ONE OF THE GIRLS? I NEED TO ASK THEM SOMETHING._

Shikamaru looked up the ceiling before squeezing his eyes shut.

"_How in the world did she get my number?!"_

He irritably texted back, _No. Txt them urself._ When he sent the message, he was instantly replied back.

Temari: _Can't._

Shikamaru: _Y?_

Temari: _Sakura and Ino's phones were taken up earlier in class dimwit. And Hinata doesn't have a phone and I don't have Tenten's number …_

Shikamaru: _U are such a nuisance in my life._

Temari: _Be considerate for once in ur life and hand ovr ur phone to one of the girls. It's a f*cking emergency._

Shikamaru eyed his phone as if to virtually send her a quizzical expression before texting, _Emergency? Let's hear it; maybe I can help out._

Temari: _Har har, like I'd ask for ur help. Just hand ur phone to someone!_

Shikamaru: _Y should I when I can just deal with ur 'emergency' myself? What do u need?_

Temari: _Nara, u rlly r pushing it right now. 4 heaven's sake; PASS UR D*MN PHONE TO SOMEONE!_

Shikamaru stopped texting her and instead dialed her number.

* * *

Temari sat by the wall grumbling to herself as she texted Shikamaru irritably; until her phone vibrated in her hand as he called her instead.

"_What the hell?!"_

Temari ignored his call and instead texted him, _Y R U CALLING ME?! JUST PASS UR PHONE TO ONE OF THE GIRLS DAMN IT-_

He called again.

She pressed ignore and sent her message.

He didn't reply; he called.

Cursing, Temari answered it unwillingly.

"For the love of God, can you just please let me talk to one of the girls-"

"_WHAT. DO. YOU. F*CKING. NEED?!"_

Temari stopped hissing at him. The level of irritation in his voice made her bite her lip before asking, "… a jacket."

Silence. Then he answered, "_You have got to kidding me; you spammed me with your annoying texts so you can get a f*cking jacket?! "_

"Hey! That's why I asked YOU to hand over your phone to someone so I can get a jacket- hello? Hello?!"

Temari looked at her phone incredulously.

"He f*cking hung up on me!"

Temari angrily shoved her phone in her pocket, sitting there in the hall as she tried to think of a plan B.

"Well that worked out well enough. Let's see … I could just go and hack their lockers and take a jacket and explain to them later, but that's really rude and I don't even know how to hack. Maybe I could ask the nurse? I doubt she does, otherwise she would've given it to me. Urgh! What should I do?!"

Temari buried her face in her arms, unwilling to go to the cafeteria herself because of her embarrassing shirt and suddenly a jacket was thrown over her head.

"What the-"  
"Yeah, happy birthday."

Temari looked under the jacket to see an annoyed Shikamaru standing to one side as he pointed at the jacket.

"That one there is mine. So you better take care of it and return it to me tomorrow in one piece."

Temari glared at him angrily.

"What is your problem?! First you blow me off and walk out on me, then you get all pissed at me over a few texts, and now you're getting all snappy and-"

Shikamaru squatted in front of Temari with a hand on her chin, forcing her to look up at him as he leaned close.

"Because you're f*cking annoying me to death."

Temari didn't say anything; she didn't BREATHE for that matter. His face was inches from hers and their noses barely brushed, just imagine the distance between her lips from his. Centimeters.

He pulled away and stood, his hands going back into his pockets as he turned to leave.

"Just use the jacket and return it later for God's sake and stop bothering me."

Temari sat stunned where she was before slapping herself to chase the blush away.

"F*ck ... f*ck … f*ck …"

When she calmed down, Temari looked down at the jacket before holding it away from her to examine it critically; for a guy, she had to admit, he kept his clothes pretty clean. It didn't smell and it was probably rarely worn.

It was black and had thin red stripes running up and down the length of the sleeves, a flare in the collar to give it, it's boyish style. Temari frowned to herself.

"Ugh … I don't know what's worse. Walking around with a shirt that makes me look like a slut or wearing that Nara's jacket …"

She thought about it before ultimately going with the jacket.

"I ain't risking it."

Temari slipped into the jacket (which wasn't at all surprising that it was a bit too big for her) and zipped it up to her chin, hiding the shirt beneath behind the black jacket. She sighed before standing and walking back into the cafeteria, hoping that nobody would really notice …

* * *

"Gurl!? Why in the world are you wearing HIS jacket?!"

Ino stood abruptly in her seat to point accusingly at Temari and the jacket she wore, the girls staring in surprise.

"Eh? Who's jacket?"  
"That jacket that you have on right now! That's Shikamaru's jacket!"

"Uh, yeah, so?"  
"Do you have ANY IDEA HOW RARE IT IS FOR A GUY LIKE HIM TO JUST **GIVE **HIS JACKET TO A GIRL?! The last time he gave it to someone, it was when he had a crush on her. When was that? Second grade?"  
Sakura nodded, staring in awe at the jacket as if it was some holy grail or something.

"Yeah, all the boys have something like that. Like I've heard Sasuke would let a girl hold his hand if he liked her, and Naruto would give the girl he'd like a piggyback ride."

Ino grinned at Sakura, "And we all know how we know THAT secret."  
Sakura flushed before swatting Ino on the sleeve.

"Please, don't remind me when he did that to me."

Temari stared at the jacket she wore.  
"So wait, you're saying that all the guys have their own secrets ways to express if they liked a girl. You're saying that if Shikamaru has given his jacket to me, it means … "

The girls exclaimed loudly with smiles on their faces, "THAT HE LOVES YOU!"

Temari stood stunned before the girls saw Temari on the ground with her head under her arms as she mumbled self consciously to herself about traveling to Cuba; she didn't take it well.

"Holy sh*t! Shikamaru! Shikamaru~! Why is that sand chick wearing your 'you-know-what' jacket?!"

"She asked for a jacket to wear and I simply did that for her. She owes me though."  
"But why THAT jacket?!"  
"It was the only one I had in my locker."  
"Liar!"  
Kiba pointed accusingly at Shikamaru before Naruto jumped in, "Whoa! Are you guys thinking what I'm thinking?!"

Kiba and the others stared at Naruto before they all exploded in answers.

Everyone but Sasuke, Neji, and Shikamaru himself, exclaimed loudly, "HE'S IN LOVE WITH HER!"

Sasuke snorted and Neji rolled his eyes, Shikamaru sighing to himself wondering if he should've even bothered to give Temari his jacket. Kiba and Naruto were dancing around Shikamaru throwing torn straw wrappers in the air as they sang in their annoying sing-songy voices, "Shikamaru loves Temari~! Shikamaru loves Temari~!"

Shikamaru irritably swatted them out of his hair as he glared at the two.

"Stop it! I don't love her. You guys make stupid assumptions just because I gave a freaking JACKET to her!"

Choji held up a finger to make a point as he sipped from his juice box.

"Yes, but it's your SPECIAL PRIVATE JACKET that you don't give to anybody but the girl you like."

Neji eyed Shikamaru before adding, "Come to think of it, I never saw you give a girl your jacket in your entire life except that time in second grade when you gave your jacket to this new girl that you liked."  
Choji nodded.

"I also remember when you told me in second grade that your jacket was specially reserved for your future girlfriends-"

Shikamaru slammed the table with his fist, shutting everyone up.

"For the love of God, I. DON'T. LOVE. ANYONE. Especially her!"  
He pointed accusingly at Temari across the cafeteria, who everyone saw was crouching on the ground as if she had a sudden headache, her hands in her hair as she curled up in a ball on the floor.

Kiba grinned.

"Say what you want Shikamaru, no one is going to think otherwise."  
Naruto jostled Shikamaru on the shoulder.

"Hey, hey, I bet you didn't think ahead this time; just watch this be all over the student newspaper tomorrow!"

Shikamaru stared in horror at his shoes.

"_F*ck! I forgot all about that!"_

When Sasuke saw the look come across Shikamaru's face he sighed, "Oh God, he really does like her."  
"I do not! I just did her a favor! When did my life become so complicated?!"

Kiba laughed as he pointed at Shikamaru's face.

"Ever since she transferred here smart one."

* * *

Temari couldn't face him during fourth period. Yes, the one class she shared with him. That one class she'd have to face the seniors and the dreaded waitress outfits.

The seniors eyed her when she walked inside, the jacket obviously why they stared at her.

"Holy sh*t, is that-"  
"That's that Nara's special jacket!"  
"Whoa~! Does that mean that she's-"

"His-"

"Sh*t."

The seniors stared at one another before grinning like creepy dolls at Temari, scaring the living sh*t out of her.

"Please let time fly in this class …"  
Jiraiya clapped his hands as he announced loudly, "Alright you juniors! Time you dressed up –WHOA~!"  
He exaggerated being thrown back at the sight of Temari's jacket, his finger pointed accusingly at her.

"GOODNESS! SO YOU'RE HIS NEW SEXY ONE AREN'T YOU?!"

Shikamaru marched up and pushed Temari behind him as he shouted, "OH FOR GOD'S SAKE; I'M NOT DATING HER!"  
Jiraiya grinned at his stubborn face.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say Nara boy."

"I'm not-"  
"Alright then! Seniors, time to dress up the juniors!"

The seniors whooped loudly as they broke into groups, each grabbing a junior and dragging them off across the room to present the uniforms they'd be required to wear.

Temari was dragged with Shikamaru to one side of the room as the same seniors from before grinned at them.

"Heh-heh, I still can't get over the fact you two are da-"  
"WE'RE SO NOT DATING."

Temari eyed Shikamaru for what seemed the hundredth time that they did this; why wouldn't they understand that they were NOT dating?!  
The senior rolled her eyes.

"Say whatever, I'll believe what I want to believe. Anyway, ta-da!"  
Two senior boys pulled back the screen of curtains to reveal their uniform; Temari pinked at the sight of hers.

"Oh God, I'm SO not wearing that piece of sh*t!"

The seniors eyed her quizzically.

"Why not? It'll look sexy on you-"  
"F*ck it! There's a reason why we have a dress code at school-"

The seniors grinned.

"There's a reason why that rule is suspended on festival days."

Temari threw her hands up in the air in exasperation.

"Perverts! All of you! Why are you just like the f*cking teacher?!"  
Shikamaru shook his head.

"I absolutely refuse to be seen in those clothes with HER; at least give her something more simple?"

The seniors crossed their arms in unison as they shook their heads.

"Nope! This required our creativity and we wanted to go along with the 'bunny' theme our class voted for you two so suck it up and deal with it!"  
Temari blinked in disgust.

"Oh God, 'bunny theme'?! When did this happen?!"

The seniors grinned.

"Oh, we just decided on it in class. Some of us wanted to put cat ears on all of you guys but it'd be too cliché so we decided to give each of the couple pairings their own animal themes. For example; Naruto and Hinata are foxes, Sasuke and Sakura are ravens, Ino and Kiba are dogs (naturally), Tenten and Neji are cats, and you two are our sweet little bunnies!"

A senior placed two head bands with fuzzy bunny ears on the two who both swiped off in indignation.

"STOP WITH THE SH*T-"

"OH JIRAIYA SENSEI~!"

The teacher looked up at the seniors who grinned evilly at the two.

"THEY AREN'T LISTENING TO US~!"  
Jiraiya held up a clipboard at the two with his pen pointed at them accusingly.

"I'm grading you two on participation. There's also a small portion of your grade on listening and following instructions; don't screw up your grade."

Shikamaru cursed before placing the bunny ears back on, Temari glumly following his example. The seniors grinned as they held up their outfits.

"Now, get into these so we can see what needs to be fixed."

Shikamaru hated this sooo much. He wanted to burn all of it. And he wanted to be the one to light the match.

He groaned as the girl seniors giggled around him as they adjusted his frilly purple suit, bending his bunny ears to give the outfit it's 'cutesy' look and Shikamaru was tempted to throw all the girls out the window.

"I hate this so much-"  
"Smile!"

There was a flash and Shikamaru cursed.

"WHAT WAS THAT?!"  
The senior looked at him innocently.

"A photo. We need something to post online don't we?"  
"Okay, that does it, I'm going to throw all of you out the window and watch you all splatter on the sidewalk-"  
Jiraiya tapped his pen on his clipboard at Shikamaru from across the room, his pen tapping over '_MANNERS AND BEHAVIOR'. _Shikamaru bit his tongue as the seniors grinned.  
"Your loss. Anyway, you look good in your waiter outfit! Courtesy of Yumi of course, she does a fantastic job of making clothes!"

A senior girl who was busy measuring his legs blushed, "Oh stop it, you're making me blush."

The senior boys whistled to Shikamaru's right, where Temari had walked out of the dressing room instantly bombarded by the boy's comments when they were supposed to 'adjust any errors 'on her waitress uniform.

"Holy sh*t, loving those legs!"  
"What a rack!"

"Look at them curves!"

"You're screaming 'HOT, HOT, HOT!'"

Temari was out of Shikamaru's sight (which was probably a good thing) but he could see the discomfort on her face as she tried to cover herself with her arms.

"F*ck this … and the teacher … and all of you. Perverts, get out of my face!"  
"I'm loving this chick more and more, you should've been a few years older."

"I'm seventeen you perverted b*tches-"

"F*ck! Seventeen! My age!"

"Hell yeah, marry me girl."

Shikamaru glared at the senior girls around him demanding, "Why are the boys over seeing her uniform? Shouldn't it be the other way around? She shouldn't have their creepy hands on her-"  
"Oh keep your pants on, she's still your girlfriend. Besides, we didn't make that uniform; the boys did. They know what to do with the adjustments."  
"What the f*ck – why are they the ones making her uniform?!"  
"Because Jiraiya sensei told us that girls should make the boy's uniforms and the boys should make the girl's uniforms for the sake of making your uniforms 'appealing' to the opposite gender."

Shikamaru wanted to slap himself.

"Your teacher is a f*cking pervert."  
"No he's not!"

"Yes he is."  
"NO he is NOT!"  
"No he is not."  
"Yes he is – wait."

Shikamaru rolled his eyes as the girls giggled, finding their own error silly to themselves. The senior boys stepped to one side, shouting out to Shikamaru saying, "Hey! Lucky boy! Take a look at your sexy girlfriend here!"

Temari dashed behind a few desks and hid there, blushing madly as she screamed, "PERVERTS!"

Shikamaru had already saw however. He turned a bit pink at the sight of Temari dressed in something so …. Frilly. That was the only word for it. Frilly.

She was dressed in a pale rose dress that hung at mid-thigh and had sleeves that flared out at her elbows lined with violet lace at the ends of her sleeves, the hem of dress, and across the collar of her dress. (Which was noticeably low cut as well.) Over that was a tight fitting apron in a darker shade of violet with a thick lacey ribbon around her middle just below her chest that was tied tightly behind her to form that ridiculous bow behind her with a few fabric roses pinned to the pockets of her apron. She wore knee high socks which led to her feet which were slipped into ankle high heels. To describe it in short, nothing but frills and lace everywhere.

Shikamaru tore his eyes away from her legs and muttered, "She looks nice."

The boys whistled while Temari growled, "Shut up, all of you!"

"Alright! Assemble the juniors and let's have a look at their sexy bodies – I mean, their wonderfully made uniforms!"

The seniors herded Shikamaru and Temari the front of the class, making them put on their bunny headbands before standing next to the rest of their friends. Shikamaru stared at Naruto and Hinata.

"Why are they the only ones who seem unaffected by this madness?!"

Naruto grinned at Shikamaru and Temari, his fox ears matching with his whisker like scars on his face as he shouted out to them, "Looking good Shikamaru! Temari looks great too!"  
"Shut up you fox."

Hinata, who was uncomfortable herself dressed in a sleeveless waitress uniform with a plush fox fur shawl around her shoulders to cover up her bare arms, nodded to Shikamaru and Temari embarrassed; her fox ears tipping forward with her head.  
"Y-You two l-look n-nice."

"Thank you Hinata. You'll join me after school to burn these yes?"

Hinata blushed at Temari who the seniors glared at.

"Don't you dare think about such monstrosity!"  
"F*ck these uniforms."

Jiraiya first observed Ino and Kiba.

"Mmhmm! Classic! Kiba, you're looking classy in that uniform of yours; it brings out that rough, canine side to you, you look good kid!"

Kiba sighed, shaking his head with his dog ears flapping at the sides of his head.

"Spare me …"  
"And Ino! Lovely uniform! It's absolutely perfect on you! I'm loving the paw prints on your apron!"

Jiraiya eyed her legs as she giggled.

"I like it too, thank you very much."

She was dressed in a tight fitting dress that stopped at her thighs with an apron slipped on top; paw prints hemmed the apron and dress that was in bright color tones of pink and salmon. Her sleeves ended at her fingertips that also flared out like Temari's, and to top it off; doggy ears.

This was killing Temari to see Ino unaffected; naturally she liked the girly outfit.

Jiraiya grinned at Naruto and Hinata.

"You two are killing me."

Naruto grinned, his head cocked to one side with his foxy ears on his head that made the girls scream.

"Thanks!"

Hinata mumbled an inaudible thanks but was busy trying to cover as much as she could with her shawl. She was dressed in a flirty mid thigh dress that flared out if she were to twirl, and sequins lined the hem of her dress which was sleeveless and peppered the front and back of her dress. It was a light shade of orange with gold sequins everywhere with a tight fitting yellow apron on top; her apron had two foxes curled around one another (matching with Naruto's only with alternating colors) with pockets in the front. Over all of that, she wore a mixed color shawl of orange and yellow which Temari suspiciously thought was real fox fur.

Jiraiya goggled at Sakura and Sasuke, and before he could comment on anything, Sasuke interjected with a hiss in his voice.

"DON'T SAY ANYTHING-"  
"Sexy."

Sakura giggled leaning next to Sasuke, who looked tempted to punch her. The two, typical ravens (Itachi's idea of course) were lucky enough not to wear headbands. Out of all the couple pairs in the room, they were the ones given that 'sexy' appearance. Sakura wore a dress that hung at her calves that clung at her hips and flared out at her calves. Cut short in the front but long in the back, her dress was sleek black that shimmered red whenever she shifted; the effect of the red glitter beneath the black cloth. Her apron stopped at her hips where her apron was decorated with feathery black feathers and red pockets of lace and ribbons. Her sleeves ended at her shoulders where they had bothered to add black feathers flaring out to give the uniform a 'raven' look. Sasuke was dressed similarly, only in the waiter style. He hated it. They all hated their uniforms. With the exception of Naruto, Ino, and Sakura.

Jiraiya clapped at the sight of Neji and Tenten.

"Beautiful! Simple but beautiful!"

Tenten blushed slightly as Neji looked away; the cat couple looking increasingly embarrassed at the turned attention. Tenten was in a short dress that hung at her thighs in that flared out; color being bright blue. Stripes were on her sleeves and knee high socks of alternating blue and white that were hemmed in blue lace with a simple white apron with blue pockets placed over it all and furry blue cat ears on her head with her hair pulled out of their usual buns; giving her a more feminine appearance.

"I-I hate my hair down …"  
Neji fingered her hair before looking away again, Tenten with a blush on her face.

"It looks nice down."

The seniors ooed at his reaction and pictures flashed away. The two looking so embarrassed. Temari and Shikamaru stood stiff like statues to the side as Jiraiya whistled at them.

"Stunning. Gorgeous – eye catching."

Temari growled, trying to put on a scowl that would clash in the photos taken, but it only increased the squeals from the seniors since it matched the expression on Shikamaru's face.

Temari finally asked, "NOW can we get into our HUMAN clothes?!"

Jiraiya and the seniors grinned.

"Only after a few more pictures."

* * *

Shikamaru was mentally drained of energy; if only the principal was there to put everything in order, the principal hated Jiraiya's perverted sense of fashion and would've done something about it; though Naruto had nothing to complain about it.

"I love it!"  
"That means you're a pervert idiot."  
"Not the girls' uniforms, they could use a few adjustments, I like my own though. I like the fox idea!"

"I hate my doggy uniform; Akamaru would tear it shreds."

Sasuke crossed his arms as he grumbled, "I hate all of it …"

Lee pouted.

"At least you all had something to match with! I'm the loner forever doomed to cashier!"

Kiba grabbed Lee on the shoulder with a look of utter despair, "SWITCH. WITH. ME."

Sasuke turned to Lee with the same level of desperation, "Oh God, switch with me."  
Lee brightened.  
"To dress with Sakura?! Oh yes!"

Choji shook his head while eating his snacks.  
"Nope. They won't let any of you guy switch. Otherwise they'll deduct points from your grade if you bother asking."

Kiba and Sasuke cursed and Lee sighed again.

Neji eyed Choji enviously, "I wish I was taste tester too."  
Choji chucked at everyone's envious glares.

"You guys aren't suitable for it. No one has better sense of taste than me."  
"Shikamaru, you and Temari looked pretty hot up there though."  
Kiba grinned at Shikamaru who sighed.

"Can you please drop it already? I'm so tired …"

Kiba laughed with Naruto before deciding they'd be nice and dropped the subject, tired themselves with today's excitement.

"Well, the festival is in a few days."  
"Yeah …"

Everyone gloomily imagined the festival; stuck with girls they didn't want to be with (exception of Naruto who didn't mind Hinata) walking around in public dressed ridiculously serving cake and tea to a bunch of laughing freshmen, sophomores, juniors, seniors, and teachers. One heck of a day they were so not looking forward to. Especially Shikamaru.

* * *

Temari wanted to put a cork in Ino's and Sakura's mouths; she wanted utter silence when she walked home, not two rambling girls.

"Oh my God, did you see Hinata's uniform? So amazing!"

"I loved your dress Ino! So classy!"

"Look who's talking, you're the one with the sexy dress!"

"Oh stop it Ino, you're making me blush!"

"Temari's was pretty sassy, who knew she had great legs?!"

The two girls looked at Temari who shot death glares at them.  
"I. Will. So. Beat. You. Two. Senseless."

The girls laughed as Hinata sympathetically spoke to Temari, "I-I think you h-have perfectly n-normal l-legs."

Temari smiled at her gratefully.

"Thank you Hinata; someone human to balance out these aliens here."

Tenten, who had decided to walk with them, sadly pointed out, "Guys, we only have a few days until the festival; where we'll be in public in those clothes …"

Ino and Sakura nodded delighted, "Yup! We can't wait!"  
Temari let out a sarcastic reply, "Whoopee. I can't wait to embarrass myself."

Hinata eyed Temari's jacket before asking, "H-How long are y-you w-wearing t-that j-jacket?"  
Temari looked down at her jacket before smacking herself.  
"Aie, I forgot to give it back to Shikamaru!"

"Why do you need it for anyway? If it wasn't because you two are dating, what do you need his jacket for?"  
"I had to change into some new clothes after a bunch of soup spilled on me; my shirt was a size too big and it was really embarrassing. I needed something to cover it up."

"Oh, figures."

Temari sighed exhausted, all she wanted to do now was go home and sleep. But after that, she'd have to return Shikamaru's jacket back to him before she was questioned by it again. She was already asked by several teachers on the way home and she was embarrassed to reply 'no' and their irritating knowing smiles before they said in reply to her answer, "Oh, I see, I see."

Temari and Shikamaru both had to agree on one thought if anything after today:

_What a bothersome, troublesome, wearisome day._

* * *

**Sorry if this chapter bored you guys or whatever, I thought it was cute with the soup and stuff though ... or maybe that's just me. I dunno. Maybe it's just me. I hope I haven't disappointed anyone and just an FYI, I might not be able to post chapters as fast as I used to now that school is coming back on monday for me so I apologize in advance if I don't post anything for a LONG time. Sorry and I appreciate your support and I hope I don't disappoint you guys in the latter future as I work on this story for your enjoyment.**

**I apologize if there are any errors in this chapter, I caught some earlier before and updated it, but there might still be more and I'm so sorry if there are. I'll try harder next time to work on my sentence errors and stuff. Thank you however for putting up with them and understanding. Thank you so much.**

**Thank you for putting up with my annoying author notes (if you ever read them) and keep ****posting reviews with your lovely comments that are thankfully always positive encouragements and not any nasty mean hate messages. Thank you all for making my experience on a great one so far! Thank you~! :D**


	5. Dismay

**SOOOOOOO SOOOORRRRRYYYYY for REALLY late update, I had problems with the internet and when uploading it and I had trouble with writing it since I had no inspiration at the moment and I had school killing my brain cells by bombarding me with homework and whatnot. I'm sorry I didn't upload this sooner, I'll try to update sooner and thank you for your patience. (I'm sorry to those who don't, I totally understand how irritating it would've been waiting for the next chapter, thank you for your support and thank you for waiting.) Enjoy! (I apologize ahead of time before you read this chapter; it's possible it might be cheesy and weird considering I typed this during many sleep deprived nights and I only got to edit it for like, ten minutes before saying 'screw this!' and doing ABC check. Sorry if the story line in this chapter is icky and stuff, I'll try not to do this kind of crap again for your sakes; it's so not worth your time wasting on.)**

* * *

**Chapter 5: Dismay**

Shikamaru sighed to himself as he walked down the road towards his house. School was finally over for the week; of course the photos of them being waiters and waitresses had plagued him the entire week as various images were posted of the entire gang, naturally it spread around the school like wildfire and was a huge hit – even among the teachers, which was mildly disturbing.

Shikamaruhadn't expected the week to fly by so quickly. Though he did want it to be over with, he hadn't really been aware of just how fast the week went by; not to mention how didn't remember nearly half the things he did during the past week. But oddly enough, he didn't run into Temari as often as he did anymore. The only time he actually had quality time to talk with her was during their patrolling sessions as they cleared out the school every day; but even then, she had avoided him. She skipped the first two patrolling sessions twice because of excuses that Shikamaru found suspiciously inaccurate and the only time she ever did come was Thursday morning today, but she insisted on patrolling at the other end of the school and left. She seemed to be avoiding him. He didn't like to jump to conclusions, but in times like this, he had to but agree with himself that his assumption may be correct; that Temari was indeed, avoiding him at all costs.

Shikamaru shook his head to himself as he opened the gate to his front yard's fence, stepping through before closing it shut behind him. He approached the front door and reached into his pocket for his keys. He fished around and felt nothing but the rough interior of his pockets, grasping nothing but paper scraps and yet, no keys. He searched his backpack for a while, but even to that extreme, he couldn't find his keys.

"Oh geez …"

A bit flustered he searched his pockets again and found to his dismay that he lost them.

"Where did I …"

Shikamaru sighed, not wanting to waste his time trying to remember where he placed it. Instead he stood at the door of his house and considered knocking and see if his parents were home- oh wait. Shikamaru smacked his forehead feeling utterly stupid.

"_Oh crap, they left on their little vacation last week. They wouldn't come home until – stupid of me!"_

Shikamaru stood there considering his other options and found them unappealing. They would take too much time and effort and it was getting late. Maybe he could just sleep in a friend's house for the night and find his keys somewhere at school and get back home the next day. Finding it a plausible solution, Shikamaru turned heel and shrugged his backpack up his arm as he headed for Choji's house.

When he got there he knocked on his door, wondering if he'd disturb his family before stepping back to wait. It took a few minutes before the door opened. Choji peeked through the crack in the door and asked, "Oh, Shikamaru, what are you doing here?"

Shikamaru raised his eyebrows at Choji's cautious manner and whispering but decided to ask that later.

"Um, yeah, you see, I lost my keys at school or on the bus somewhere and I can't get inside my house. I was wondering if it'd be okay to stay over …"  
Choji gave him an apologetic shake of the head.

"Sorry! You can't today."  
"Uh, what's wrong?"  
"Well, you see, my dad is mad because he can't find his chips and …"  
Shikamaru stared at Choji and he shifted uncomfortably behind the door, looking down at his shoes embarrassed with himself.

"You ate them."  
"Y-Yeah … but I didn't tell him because he gets scary when someone eats his snacks and he'll ground me. I can't have you over either if that were to happen. I hope you can understand."  
"It's fine, I understand."  
"Thanks, try Lee, maybe he can let you."

Shikamaru thanked Choji before turning to leave, sighing as he trudged down the road towards Lee's home. When he got there, he knocked politely before Lee opened the door.

"'Ello Shikamaru- ACHOO!"

Shikamaru took a startled step back before asking cautiously, "Uh, Lee … are you alright?"

Lee sniffed, wiping is nose on his sleeve before replying with a stuffy voice,"Enugh, no. I dink I have a cold; I have dis awful sneezes and coughs so I dink I'm sick- ACHOO!"

Shikamaru quickly lifted an arm to protect his mouth and nose before mumbling, "Oh, I guess that means I can't stay over tonight."  
Lee wiped his nose again before asking, "Eh? Did you want to sday over? Sorry, I'm sick. Why can'd you go home?"

"I lost my keys, so I can't get in."  
"Oh. Dat sucks. Why don't you ask Naruto? He's always up for sleepovers, even if he is in high school."

"Thanks Lee, I might do that. I hope you get better soon."  
Lee nodded, sneezing again before coughing as he turned to quickly shut the door, not wanting to pass the cold to Shikamaru. Shikamaru turned and started walking down the road once again, this time towards Naruto's home. When he got there he knocked politely as he could again before the door was kicked open.

"HE-YAH~! UZUMAKI NARUTO HERE, WHO IS IT- Oh. It's you Shikamaru! Whazzup?"  
Naruto grinned as Shikamaru sighed, shaking his head before asking, "Yeah um, I need a place to stay tonight. I can't get inside my home because I lost my keys; can I stay here?"  
Naruto laughed nervously, scratching the back of his head before mumbling, "Yeah, I'd let you stay and all, but uh, I didn't take the time to clean up and it's really messy in there …"  
Shikamaru held up a hand, signaling him to stop speaking.

"Okay, I've heard enough. I'm not going in there. Thanks though."  
Naruto shrugged apologetically before stuffing his hands in his pockets exclaiming, "Sorry. Why don't you try Sasuke?"

Shikamaru stared at him.

"You've got to be kidding me. Sasuke is out of the question; he's never going to let anyone into his house for one night. Even if he did, there'd be no way I want to be there – spending one night with such an edgy, mysterious guy like that, count me out."  
Naruto held out his hands in surrender, nodding as he spoke, "Okay, okay, I get your point. Um, have you tried Kiba yet?"

"No … should I?"  
"You have nothing to lose really."  
"But I don't want to sleep in a house full of … dog hair."

Naruto grinned.

"Better than sleeping out on the road right?"

"… I guess. Thanks for your help Naruto."  
"No prob! Sorry I couldn't let you in! Hope you find a place to stay tonight."

Shikamaru turned back to the road and sighed, staring up at the dark sky as night finally fell.

"Eesh … I hope so too."

Shikamaru finally made it to Kiba's house and sighed as he knocked, "Please God … just let me find a place to stay …"  
Kiba opened the door and blinked in surprise at Shikamaru, he yawned once before replying, "Hey Shikamaru … what are you doing here so late at night?"  
"Sorry to bother you if you were sleeping."  
"Eh, don't worry about it. I was just messing around on my computer getting all sleepy and sh*t. Whatdcha need?"

"I lost my keys at school or on the bus somewhere and I can't get in my house. I need someplace to stay for the night so I can find them tomorrow and get back to my own house."  
"What? Aren't you parents home?"  
"They left on a little vacation last week. They haven't came back yet."  
"Eesh, that sucks."  
"Can I stay?"  
"Um … "  
Kiba glanced behind him and frowned, then he stepped outside with Shikamaru before closing the door behind him speaking in a low voice, "You see, my sister Hana is getting all chummy in there with her boyfriend she brought over tonight. I wouldn't stay over here …"  
Shikamaru looked up to the sky, groaning, "Where the hell am I supposed to go now?"  
Kiba frowned, taking some thought before asking, "I'm assuming you tried the others?"  
"All of them."

Kiba grinned, slyly elbowing him awkwardly before stating, "Hey, hey, hey! This is a good chance for you to go to Te-ma-ri!"

Shikamaru blushed before swatting his arm away.

"Holy sh*t Kiba, don't even joke about that-"  
"Look at that face! You've got the blushies! Aww, little Shikamaru is in love~!"

"Shut your crap Kiba, I'm not in love. Seriously, I don't have anything in mind with Temari!"  
"Then why'd you give her your special jacket?"  
"Because she needed it. It has NOTHING to do with the stupid history behind my jackets!"  
"Then why'd you do THIS!"

He whipped out a printed photo of when Shikamaru walked Temari home and kissed her on the forehead; he blushed before lunging for the photo.

"Oh my God Kiba, give it here!"

"Nope. Tell me, why did you?"  
"Why do you even have one printed out?!"

"Because I liked this one. Now tell me, why'd you do it, hmm?"  
"Because she needed to be relieved of something alright? It's not because I liked her!"

Kiba grinned, continuing to dance out of Shikamaru's reach with the photo waving tauntingly over his head,

"Oh come on, that's so lame. There's got to be a better reason."

"Kiba, you're REALLY trying my patience here-"

"Admit it. You like Temari."  
"Why do you people say this about us, can't you accept the mere fact that we're NOT in love?!"

"Nope. Never can and never will."  
"Kiba, just hand that photo over, you really don't need it."  
"Nope. It's my photo, I get to keep it."  
Shikamaru paused, frowning before slowly replying, "Wait a minute … your photo?"

Kiba stared at Shikamaru before swearing mentally, stuffing the photo in his jacket as Shikamaru eyed him suspiciously.

"Hold on here. Why would you have your own personal copy of that picture? Not to mention that your house is only a couple of blocks away from hers …"

Shikamaru connected the dots and blinked in surprise, Kiba taking that as his cue before dashing for his door, Shikamaru hot on his heels.

"KIBA-"

"SORRY SHIKAMARU! I JUST HAD TO TAKE THAT PICTURE! I'M SORRY I TURNED IT IN FOR THE SENIORS TO USE – IT WAS ALL INO'S PLAN! ASK HER ABOUT IT! SHE ASKED ME TO HELP HER AND I DID! SHE SAID IF I DID, SHE'D MAKE A DEAL WITH THE SENIORS TO EXCLUDE ANY PHOTOS WITH ME AND HER FROM THE WEBSITE; I HAD TO DO IT! SORRY SHIKAMARU!"

"**KIBA!**"  
"Sorry!"

Kiba slipped out of Shikamaru's fingers and escaped into his own home, the sound of the door locking shut and his footsteps pounding away made Shikamaru's heart drop. Great. So Kiba was the stalking photographer. Brilliant. Shikamaru shook his head, still a bit angry about the photo secret and turned back to the road for what seemed the billionth time. More importantly at the matter, he needed to find a place to stay. Otherwise he'd be spending the night hobo style.

Shikamaru started walking mindlessly down the road, shaking his head mumbling to himself.

"Geez … what should I do?"

"About what?"

Shikamaru froze in place before turning to look who spoke behind him.

Temari stood behind him with a bored expression while licking an ice cream, a grocery bag at her wrist which was planted on her hip as she gave him the raised eyebrows.

"Well?"  
"W-what are you doing here?"

"I should be asking you that. What are YOU doing here?"

Shikamaru gave her a confused expression before looking to where she pointed; her house was right next to Shikamaru, somehow he had mindlessly walked here – sh*t!

"If you don't remember, this is MY house. So if you'd be so kind and explain why you're here."

Shikamaru gave her a perplexed expression, "Oh God, don't get the wrong idea, I was just, I-"

"Then stop flustering and SPIT IT OUT!"  
Temari gave him a sour look before taking another lick at her ice cream, making him wonder why in the world she was eating that during the autumn season …

"I-I lost my keys to my house and I was asking Kiba and the others if I could stay at their houses for the night but they couldn't. I was just walking around trying to find another place to stay and … I sort of ended up here I guess."  
Temari stared at him as he looked away embarrassed, knowing exactly what he was implying to her, she eyed him before taking a bite out of her ice cream.

"Aren't your parents home?"  
"They went on a vacation a week ago."  
"Oh, that's too bad."

She walked past him and opened the fence gate to her house before continuing to walk, unnerving Shikamaru as he exclaimed, "Wait, you're not going to let me in?!"  
She turned and gave him a blank expression, somehow merciless as she simply stated, "Of course not. Understand that you're a male and that I am a female. Girls don't offer up their homes to boys who walk around unable to find a place to sleep for the night; it's immoral and gives off a bad vibe for you and me if the others at our school found out you slept over at my house."

Shikamaru saw sense in her words but still … he needed a place to sleep!

"For God's sake, you don't care if I sleep on the freaking road?!"  
"Of course not. You sleep in meadows in the broad day light; why can't you do the same now?"  
"Because there aren't any clouds."  
"There's the stars."  
"Stars aren't as entertaining as clouds. Clouds move and change shape; stars just sit there consistently and do absolutely nothing."  
Temari turned and frowned at him, her hand planted at her hip once again before contradicting, "Now that isn't true. Stars are just as interesting as clouds. They may not change shape or move, but they have the most beautiful lights ever. They form patterns in the sky with their fellow stars next to them and if you look for them long enough, you can see the entire sky with pictures and patterns just like clouds do in the daylight. They aren't that different than clouds, Shikamaru."

Shikamaru stared at her slightly perplexed and stunned, to think Temari was interested in stars that much …

The door behind her opened to reveal a red haired teenager, yawning slightly before opening his mint green eyes.

"Temari … what are you doing out here instead of getting inside already? You did get the food right? And – who's that?"  
The boy suddenly stopped rubbing his eyes before his gaze sharpened with hostility at Shikamaru, his eyes turning a shade darker as Temari spoke for Shikamaru, "Don't worry, it's that lazy ass I told you about. He's perfectly harmless Gaara."  
Gaara's eyes went back to normal, but the grim expression on his face didn't leave as Shikamaru stood frozen in place.

"Oh. Okay then, but what is he here for?"  
"He lost his keys to his house and his parents aren't home and he's trying to find a place to stay tonight and asked all his friends and they couldn't let him in because of their own reasons, I'm assuming that he came here to ask but you know."

Temari gave Shikamaru a glance before adding, "How you and Kankuro would flip out if I let him stay over-"  
"Let him."  
Temari and Shikamaru blinked in unison before speaking,"Wha~?"

Gaara crossed his arms, appearing sullen as he added with an edge to his tone, "What? You don't want to have a place to stay tonight?"  
Shikamaru realized the question was directed at him and he quickly replied, "Ah, no, I do, but it's just … surprising, that's all."  
Gaara snorted, he turned before shaking his head, "I doubt Kankuro will like it at all, but let's all just deal with it. You're only going to be here for one night right?"  
"As long as I find my keys tomorrow or if my parents come home, then yes."  
"Then you better find those keys tomorrow. Temari, show him to one of the guest rooms."  
"I know Gaara, I'm not a child."  
"Then please act like you're the eldest here."  
Shikamaru eyed Temari questionably as Temari let him inside.

"Eldest?"  
Temari rolled her eyes.

"Yup. Kankuro and Gaara are younger than me; I'm seventeen."

Shikamaru blinked in surprise.

"Wait. Then that means Kankuro would be sixteen and Gaara …"  
Temari answered for him as she focused on taking off her shoes.

"He's fifteen."  
"Then why is he a junior with us?"  
"Because he got to skip a grade since he's so smart and talented."

Temari grinned as she ruffled Gaara's hair teasingly, "Aren't you Gaara?"  
Gaara stepped out of her reach smoothing his hair back down before glaring at her, "Don't touch me."  
Shikamaru stared in surprise before shaking his head, dropping his backpack on the ground as a door opened down the hall to reveal Kankuro tapping the edge of his cup with an agitated expression on his face as he complained to his sister, "Temari~! Finally, you got your ass home. Now get me a cup of milk; how am I supposed to eat those cookies of mine without milk?! It's not the same. You did get milk right – SH*t!"

Kankuro instinctively threw his cup at Shikamaru, who in return instinctively ducked, the cup shattering against the wall behind him. Temari sourly glared at the shards on the ground before snapping at her brother, "F*ck, Kankuro! We only have so many cups you know!"

"F*ck the cup; WHY THE HELL IS **THAT** GUY IN HERE?!"

Kankuro shot an accusing finger at Shikamaru who stood up from the attack looking shocked, self consciously swiping at his clothes of any porcelain shards. Temari sighed, shaking her head at her brother's overreaction, "Geez Kankuro, calm down. He's only here because he can't get into his own house due to vacationing parents and missing keys; he's only here for one night."

Kankuro spluttered as Temari took Shikamaru by the wrist and dragged him past her brothers, Kankuro exclaiming as she led Shikamaru to a room, "Holy sh*t Temari; but that's the f*cking ass who kissed you!"

Gaara rummaged through the grocery bag that Temari brought as she came home and pulled out a carton of milk, tossing it to Kankuro who flustered to grab the heavy gallon.

"Keep your pants on Kankuro; it was only a peck on the forehead. So just deal with it. I doubt this person is going to do anything with us around. You really have nothing to worry about."  
Kankuro pouted as he cradled the milk in his hands mindlessly, Gaara continued to give Kankuro the look as he pulled out a pack of gizzard; taking it to the fridge as Kankuro shuddered at the sight of Gaara's favorite food.

"Eugh … you still like that kind of stuff?"  
Gaara gave him a glare.

"Excuse me? This is DELICIOUS; have anything else to say against it?"  
"No, no, never mind, don't mind me …"

Kankuro frowned as he hugged the carton of milk to himself as he growled, "I still don't like him in here. How do you guys expect me to sleep here with that creep in the house?!"  
Gaara jerked his head outside the house.

"Well, there's always something called the streets. If you don't like the perfectly bearable arrangements, sleep like a hobo."

Kankuro pouted again before Gaara ended the conversation by turning and focusing his attention on the rest of the groceries, leaving Kankuro in utter disappointment.

* * *

Temari was surprised when she saw Shikamaru walking around the corner and towards her house. She didn't want to confront him. Not after what she learned about his jacket and all … she didn't want to find out if it was true or not; somehow she knew it would hurt her in the end. Like, she knew it'd be a relief to find out he didn't like her, but that concept sort of made her feel … disappointed. Why she felt this way and why it bothered her so much, Temari didn't fell like digging too deep into, which was why she tried her best to avoid the guy at all costs. But now … she didn't have much of a choice did she? As Temari pulled out the bed sheets for the guest bed, she couldn't help but wonder if this was an act of fate playing it's revenge to make her pay up for the times she avoided Shikamaru; forcing her to pay for all of it now by having him stay at her house for a full night – fate was so cruel and unyielding.

Shikamaru gazed around the room as Temari focused on laying the bed sheets out and pulling out a pillow, smacking it roughly on the bed to force Shikamaru's attention back to her. She held up a finger as she started to bark roughly to him, "Okay, a few rules in this house with guests like you; one, don't ever leave your room unless you really have a good reason to. Two, if you need something or need to ask someone something, ask specifically me since my brothers will murder you if you wake them up at night."  
Shikamaru stared at her blankly as she added lastly, "And three, don't do anything stupid here. You're sleeping under a roof with one badass chick and two killer brothers; don't do anything that'll get you all mangled and torn in the morning."  
Shikamaru stood with sealed lips before nodding stiffly, though his eyes spoke a silent message of confusion and perplexity. She nodded confirming his agreement and stalked out of the room, but Shikamaru reached out and grabbed her by the wrist.

"Um …"

Temari eyed him, silence enveloping the two as their gazes locked. Time stopped. Her heart leaped.

"I uh, um … about the jacket."

Temari felt a blush creep on, why, oh why did fate just had to bring up THAT topic to his mind? She didn't to know about it … please, no.

"It's uh, not what you think, I forgot about the history behind my jackets and the school just overreacted about it. So, just to clear things up, you know …"

Temari felt the collision of two feelings; relief and disappoint – just what she hypothesized would happen. Temari gave him a forced grin, speaking through gritted teeth, "Heh-heh, what are you talking about? I didn't think about ANYTHING ABOUT IT. What were you implying?"

When Shikamaru didn't say anything, she sourly shook her grip out of his hand and walked out the door, closing it behind her before stopping to calm her beating heart. Why was she so cold and bitter towards him all of a sudden? Ugh, these confusing feelings were so … weird and strange to her. Temari lifted a hand to her face, feeling her skin burn with the blush on her face, making her blush even more at the concept of standing like that in front of Shikamaru. She gave herself a slight slap to control herself before shaking her head, trying to chase the strange feelings as she went to her own room to recuperate from her internal conflict …

* * *

Shikamaru stood alone in the guest room feeling oddly stupid and remorseful. Why did he feel this way? At least he cleared up that tidbit with her, though strangely she was acting a bit sour about it; it stirred something in Shikamaru that he couldn't identify. But whatever it was, it made him blush. What was he thinking?! There was no way she would've been bitter towards him because what he said was the opposite of what she wanted to hear; could it be she … NO! Shikamaru smacked himself twice before breathing slowly to himself, listening to his heart slow to a steady rhythm before sighing to himself. To think such thoughts was unnatural and creepy for him; it was best to stop it there before it got into his head. Shikamaru turned off the lights and slipped into the bed, surprised to find it so comfortable and soft. He pulled the blankets up and over his shoulders as he snuggled into the fluffy pillow under his head. He sighed in contentment, closing his eyes as he breathed in and out of the smooth, soft covers of the pillow. It smelled like … her. Being tired and exhausted, Shikamaru let his mind drift off to sleep while smiling, somewhere in the back of his head enjoying the sweet scent of his current pillow …

* * *

He woke up to the sound of a scream. He opened his eyes blearily as he sat up in his bed half conscious of being awake. He glanced around and remembered where he was and glanced at the clock next to him; around twelve midnight. He groaned and looked to the blinds over his window; the window flashed with bright flashing lights – lightning he presumed – as thunder roared shortly after. He heard the scream again.

"_Could it be … Temari?"  
_He frowned before sitting there wondering if he should go check on her. After the third thunder, and finding her screams unnerving, stood and walked out the door and down the hall, standing before her door cautiously knocking lightly.  
"Temari? Are you alright in there?"  
There was no answer and he knocked a little louder again.

"Temari? Temari are you in there-?"

The door suddenly flung open, Temari standing by the door trembling in place with her hair down over her face as he stared at her in surprise.

"Whoa, you don't look so good right now- what-!?"

There was another bout of thunder and lightning and Temari ran to Shikamaru and wrapped her arms around him, burying her face in his chest gasping in fear, her momentum knocking the two over as she sat on the ground next to him mumbling inaudible words in his shirt. Shikamaru sat back stunned as she sobbed to herself in his arms, slowly he relaxed and sat there stroking her hair awkwardly, trying to coax her off him.

"Temari, geez, it's okay. Seriously, it's just a little thunder and lightning, just a little storm."

Temari dug her fingers in the back of his shirt, still sobbing as Shikamaru sighed, his arms finding their place around her as he picked her up from the floor, taking her to her room and dropping her on her own bed. Temari immediately curled up, her face buried in her arms and in her knees as she continued to mumble words to herself. Shikamaru stood next to her wondering if he should leave now and he asked, "Are you afraid of the uh, thunder?"

Temari stayed quiet. He shook his head before adding lightly, "Well, I'm going back to bed. Try not to scream and try to sleep; okay?"

She didn't respond and he shrugged, he turned to leave when thunder and lightning shook the house in a tremendous shock. Temari suddenly reached out and grabbed Shikamaru's sleeve, stopping him from moving as she spoke in a tight, strained whispering voice, "Please … stay."  
Shikamaru eyed her as her grip on his sleeve tightened, her head kept low as she hid her face from him; probably ashamed to let him see her face. He stood awkwardly next to her before sighing, then he gently took her hands off his sleeve and went to close the door, coming back to her side as he sat at the edge of her bed, easing her down to lie on her back on the bed while he sat there next to her with a hand on hers; her hand trembling slightly as he watched her ease into slight relief. When another thunder roared and flashed behind her window, illuminating her room in the bright electric flash, her grip on Shikamaru's hand tightened. He eventually laid next to her pulling her close to put his hands over her ears, her face buried once again in his chest as he murmured softly to her, easing her fear completely as she sighed, the trembling in her hands ceasing as she relaxed against Shikamaru. He was warm and comforting, his body structure firmer than she expected and he was just so … relieving. He knew this would be awkward and strange later if they were to remember this moment, but he was content with just being there for her. Though he didn't quite understand the overwhelming sense of contentment, it was definitely something he didn't want to push aside; for now, he'd deal with it. He leaned his face in her hair, his lips brushing her forehead for the second time as he whispered to her, "Troublesome woman … frightened of the dark and a little thunder; how childish and bothersome can you get?"

Temari didn't say anything as he realized she had fell asleep, sleeping soundly against him while the darkness hid her sleeping smile from his gaze.

* * *

Outside, it was morning; the birds were chirping and the trees were dripping of last night's rain as the weather showed no signs of last night other than the puddles of water remaining on the streets. Back in Temari's house, all was quiet and calm. For Temari, she slept soundly in her bed contently. It was warm … it even smelled nice. Temari sighed as she snuggled closer to her pillow, her arms tightening contently around the base while taking a deep breath in the alluring scent of her newfound pillow. Suddenly it shifted. That was when she remembered; pillows don't move. She opened her eyes and found herself staring into green cloth. Her pillow wasn't green. She dared herself to let her eyes travel upwards; her gaze falling on the slack and recognizable face of a sleeping Shikamaru. Cursing she tried to untangle herself from him, pulling her arms out from under him and pulling his arms away from her shoulders; scrambling to the other side of the bed before yelping in surprise as she fell out of bed – waking up the sleeping boy who sat up in bed rubbing his tired eyes.

"Eh? Temari? What are you doing in my room?"  
"E-Excuse me!? Why are YOU in MY room?!"

Shikamaru frowned before looking around, realization fell back across his face as he recalled it to memory; grinning as he turned back to look at Temari.

"Ah, yes, now I remember."

Temari stood up from where she sat sprawled on the floor and shouted, "What were you doing here?!"

"I was simply doing what you asked, 'please, stay!'"

He grinned again as his lame imitation of Temari's voice clicked something in her foggy mind from last night; the thunder. Temari bit her lip; it all came flowing back to her and crashed into her like a monster truck. Oh God … how embarrassing could this get?

"G-get out of my room!"

"Admit it, I didn't do anything wrong."  
"GET OUT OF MY ROOM."  
"First admit it; then I'll leave."  
NARA SHIKAMARU-"

The door kicked open and Temari made a move to throw Shikamaru under the bed, but it was too late. Kankuro stood inside her room with a frying pan in hand, his gaze shooting around her room wildly while exclaiming, "THAT PIECE OF SH*T BROKE OUR GUEST RULES! WHERE IS HE?! I KNOW HE'S IN HERE, HE-"

Kankuro's gaze went wide at the sight of Temari cursing with her arms around Shikamaru's neck, trying a pathetic attempt to cover him with her blankets from her brother's sight, an annoyed Shikamaru lying face forward in her lap. Kankuro sputtered as he raised the frying pan over his head shouting, "YOU LITTLE F*CKER – WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER?! I WILL SO KILL YOU NOW AND MAKE SURE YOU'RE SO BEATEN UP TO SH*T THAT YOU CAN'T GO TO SCHOOL FOR AT LEAST A F*CKING-"

Gaara swooped in quickly and knocked the frying pan out of his brother's hand before quickly grabbing him by the ear and dragging him out, Kankuro exclaiming that it hurt while cursing as Gaara locked him in his own room. Then he came back storming into Temari's room before confronting the two with a stormy gaze.

"Temari. Nara. What were you two doing last night?"  
The two answered quickly, "Nothing."

Gaara narrowed his eyes, skeptically eyeing their clothing as he relaxed to some degree, "At least I know you haven't done anything suspicious ... otherwise your clothes would be wrinkled …"

Temari and Shikamaru blushed, however Gaara continued his piercing gaze upon Shikamaru.

"Nara, are you that guy from before who kissed my sister out on the street?"  
Shikamaru blinked in surprise before cautiously replying, "Yes …"  
Temari gave him a horrified expression.

"_Idiot!"_

Gaara narrowed his gaze as he punched his open palm for dramatic effect.

"Do you know what I do to those who … give my sister unwanted physical contact?"  
Shikamaru eyed the boy who slowly seemed to build his nasty aura, Temari quickly jumping in laughing nervously.

"Now Gaara, be reasonable here. He only did that for my sake; to be honest, I sort of needed it. Don't get all protective and scary just because of something so trivial as that!"

Gaara eyed his sister before turning to give Shikamaru another glare.  
"Are you certain that it didn't bother you?"  
"Absolutely!"  
"Fine then … "  
He dropped his hands to his side, his bitter aura diminishing almost instantly as he gave Shikamaru a warning glare, "However, Nara, if you do anything like this again and I find it extremely compelling that makes me to believe you've been up to something, I WILL not hold myself back. Are we clear on that Nara?"  
Shikamaru nodded, feeling that the venomous poison dripping off his voice something he shouldn't go against as Gaara turned heel, storming off down the hall before shouting, "Temari! Unlock Kankuro's door and tell him to get ready for school; there's only twenty so minutes left until school starts."

Temari sighed in relief as he disappeared, she turned on Shikamaru before exclaiming incredulously, "Were you insane?! What did I tell you way before about my brother Gaara?!"

Shikamaru held out his hands innocently, replying curtly, "Hey, a guy can forget."

Temari shook her head, pointing out her door bitterly hissing, "Oh forget it. Just get out now."  
He obediently obliged to leave as Temari followed to go in the opposite direction down the hall to unlock her fuming brother's door, having to hold him back as he cursed as he tried to throw himself past Temari straight for Shikamaru.

"F*CK THAT F*CKER, I'LL KILL THAT LITTLE B*TCH WHO DID THAT SH*T TO YOU-"

"PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER D*MN IT! HE DIDN'T DO ANYTHING! NOW GET READY FOR SCHOOL; OR YOU'LL BE LATE YOU LOUD MOUTHED ASS!"

She turned him around and kicked him – hard. He went skedaddling away angrily muttering to himself as Temari got herself prepped up for school. By the time Temari and Kankuro got out ready to go, Gaara stood waiting for them. Kankuro asked, "Where's that b*tch?"  
"He left already for school. Now hurry up or we'll be late too."

Temari hurried with her brothers to school, taking the shortest route towards the school as they splashed through puddles and ran through alleyways. Eventually they got through the school gates in time, the gate keeper shaking his head as they slipped in before he closed and locked the gate.

"Geez, you kids are lucky to get here so fast."

Temari wasn't sure how to react to that and her brothers broke away from her, waving goodbye as they headed off to their classes. Temari followed example only in the other direction. There'd be no patrolling today considering they came late and first period already started. Temari suddenly found herself remembering having Shikamaru with her that night, hugging him happily in relief as she found refuge in him from the frightening thunder. She blushed as she tried to push it aside; but she could never forget how warm and comforting he had been when he was there for her when it mattered.

* * *

Shikamaru couldn't sleep even during his usual naps; she would always infest his mind by the way she had pressed up against him with her head against his chest. Not to mention they slept that way through the rest of the storm. It was embarrassing to think he still lingered on that night. He sighed and shifted his arms on the table, trying his best to sleep but felt wide awake. Choji gave him a concerned look before asking, "Hey, are you alright?"  
"Hmm? Yeah, I'm fine."

Choji continued to give him a worried expression during the rest of class, eventually the classes dragged into one over the other, somehow he never seemed to bring his mind off Temari. It annoyed him how it didn't even stop at the least by lunch.

"Hey there Shikamaru! What's shaking?"

Kiba hopped into the seat next to him, leaning close with a sly smile on his face.

"Hey hey, how'd it go last night? Did you end up going to her house?"  
Shikamaru blushed and looked away, grumbling as he ran a hand through his unkempt hair.

"Shut up Kiba. I'm not in the mood right now."  
"Ooo~! Guys, guys! Shikamaru just spent the night at Temari's place!"

The boys reacted in unison, surprised and in disbelief.

Neji frowned in surprise.

"Why in the world did he do that? He has a house for a reason."  
Choji shook his head, "He couldn't sleep at his house because he lost his keys and his parents were out. He had to find a place to stay for the night."

Sasuke snorted, tilting his can of juice from side to side as he contemplated the logic behind that.

"So he goes out to a girl's house to sleep in? So not questionable."

Naruto's eyes went wide as he slapped the table in utter disbelief.

"No. Way. So what's it like in her house? Clean?"

Shikamaru sighed, turning to look away as he kept his face hidden by his sleeves. Kiba laughed as he elbowed him.

"Must have been. But apparently he's not willing to talk, let's just ask someone else; oh Temari~!"

Shikamaru froze, he felt a blush paint his cheeks red as he kept his face hidden, hearing footsteps stop by their table as Temari turned to look at Kiba with a surprise.

" Uh, hello?"  
"So, I heard Shikamaru went over to sleep at your house; how was it?"  
Temari blushed furiously before snapping, "Inuzuka! Keep your nasty thoughts to yourself! Nothing happened! He was to stay in the guest room when he –"  
Kiba and Naruto grinned before stating in unison, "He WAS supposed to stay in the guest room?"

Temari flustered as she tried to restate her words, Kiba and Naruto laughing their heads off slapping and slamming the lunch table.

"Oh my God, they totally were all over each other!"

"This is the best I've ever heard about Shikamaru!"

"Temari and Shikamaru; you two are killer gossip!"  
"Someone get me some water; we need to douse the fiery passion between these two!"

Naruto and Kiba howled like hyenas as Shikamaru and Temari finally snapped. Temari slammed her tray on the table as Shikamaru in sync slammed the table with his fists before the two spoke in harmonious yells, "SHUT THE F*CK UP!"

It was so loud and effective, that even Sasuke raised his eyebrows. Everyone in the entire lunch room stared and fell silent; the rings of their yells echoing faintly around the cafeteria, all sounds cut off and instantly silenced.

Shikamaru and Temari looked at one another before blushing, turning to look away stubbornly as if to prove they had nothing between them. Naruto snickered to Kiba.

"Lovers in denial."  
"I'm with yah on that."

Kiba and Naruto snickered before Temari grabbed the two by the back of their heads and rammed their heads into one another, causing the two of them yelp in pain and fall backwards off their seats on the cafeteria floor whining in pain. Temari glared at the two bitterly hissing, "That's what you get for messing with me, you freaking hyenas!"  
Then she grabbed her tray once again and stormed off to her own table, not bothering to give Shikamaru one last glance as he sat there partially in admiration at her work and in utter stunned silence. The boys rolled around on the floor whining about how it hurt as Neji and Sasuke kicked at the two to get up and suck it up. Choji resumed eating his lunch as Shikamaru sighed, glad that their attention was diverted to something else. However the cafeteria had seen their little dramatic scene; he would never hear the end of that one. Suddenly Choji choked on a carrot, making Shikamaru eye him suspiciously that he wasn't enjoying his veggies, when Choji turned his smart phone for Shikamaru to see.  
"Holy cow, Shikamaru! Look!"  
Shikamaru stared at the screen of his phone and slowly widened them in shock as he grabbed them out of his hand to take a closer look. Sh*t! Someone took pictures of the two of them in her bed last night when he was simply trying to comfort her from the storm! It showed the two of them captured in a single time stop motionless photo as lightning flashed and Shikamaru laid next to Temari holding her close to him with eyes closed and his lips on her forehead – again – as Temari slept in his arms smiling. Hold on a second; smiling? Shikamaru blushed before looking at Choji demanding, "How'd you get this photo?!"

He shook his head, shrugging at the same time with the same level of disbelief.

"I don't know! I just got this text message that was forwarded from a friend of mine and I got this! I don't know who originally sent it. But by the way my friend put it; it's gone viral around the school by now. It was sent to the entire school less than a few seconds ago."

Shikamaru cursed.

"_Damn it!"_

The speakers suddenly turned on, drowning out the surprised cries of the students with what they saw on their phones and the speakers commanded, "_Shikamaru Nara and Temari no Subaku, please make your way to the front office. Shikamaru Nara and Temari no Subaku; please make your way to the front office, thank you."_

Shikamaru locked eyes with Temari again before rising from his seat irritably. Whoever was the photographer was so dead. He shot Kiba a dangerous look who shook his head innocently, holding up his phone to show the forwarded picture text he too received.

"Okay, I swear, this time, it wasn't me. I don't go around stalking homes in the middle of a storm taking pictures."

Shikamaru dropped his suspicions for him and grew steadily worried; whoever this photographer was – they were really good at tracking him and Temari down and getting the "right moments" on photo …

* * *

Ino received the forwarded picture text and grinned maliciously at the texted message from the original texter: _MISSION ACCOMPLISHED. ;D_

Ino texted back immediately, grinning as she did so.

Ino: _GOOD WORK. KEEP IT UP AND THAT BET OF MINE IS IN THE BAG; OF COURSE U'LL BE RECEIVING A HANDSOME PAYMENT IN THE END._

?: _MY PLEASURE WORKING W/ U MISS. INO. I'll be looking forward to that reward of mine._

Ino turned off her phone as Tenten held out her phone to Ino showing the same picture with utter horror on her face.

"Holy sh*t, look at this! Did you get it too?!"

Ino nodded, putting on her best acting face.

"Totally! Isn't it so unbelievable?!"

Sakura added in as she stared in shock at the picture, "But seriously, whoever took this picture must be really into doing this sort of stuff; who'd go out in a middle of a night storm to take this picture of Shikamaru and Temari?!"

Hinata shared her thoughts with Sakura and Tenten as Ino grinned mentally to herself, knowing exactly who did it.

* * *

Shikamaru and Temari stood side by side in front of the principal; apparently even the staff were emailed or texted the same photo. Principal Tsunade eyed the two students before sighing.

"Honestly, I shouldn't have to waste my time with this; look at all this paper work I have to do!"

They glanced briefly at the stack of papers to one side as she shook her head at their blank expressions. She got back to her point, "My point is; why is this photo sent out to the entire school? I really don't want to know why you two are in a bed together, but I need to know why you two are in this photo and sent to everyone at this school."

Shikamaru offered his best explanation; "We don't know either ma'am. We never took this photo ourselves and would never do something as ridiculous as to send it out to the school. It's illogical and downright creepy."

Tsunade nodded, agreeing with Shikamaru's words as she added, "I understand that you two had nothing to do with how it got sent out. However, now that it's sent out, my staff can't work without giggling and staring at the photo- SHIZUNE! STOP GIGGLING ABOUT IT AND GET BACK TO WORK!"

Shizune, the vice principal, giggled to herself before turning off her phone, stuffing it in her pocket, and turning back to her work; however countless other staff members giggled and eyed Shikamaru and Temari from outside the office through the open window blinds. Temari felt oddly exposed and Shikamaru shifted uncomfortably on his feet. Tsunade sighed, running a hand through her loose hair before groaning, "Anyway. My point is, try to keep your relationship a low profile so people don't do THIS again-"  
Shikamaru exclaimed with a blush as he pointed at Temari, "Oh God, she isn't in a relationship with me! This is all a misunderstanding."  
Tsunade eyed Temari who looked slightly hurt and confused; Tsunade knew what was going on between the two and suddenly had a headache.

"Oh God … another one of THOSE relationships … I got yah, I got yah. Now get out of my office; Shizune! Aspirin."

Shizune tossed the principal some aspirin as Temari and Shikamaru hurried out of the office and away from the laughing and smiling staff members; blushes on both their faces. The two walked down the hall together for a while before Temari muttered, "Well this is embarrassing …"  
Shikamaru's blush didn't leave as he slouched over while walking with his hands in his pockets, his shoulders raised as he shrugged.

"I just think that whoever took that photo is insane."

Temari nodded in agreement, the two looking away for a moment before mentally going over it separately to themselves in mutual silence. Temari was the first to speak.

"So um, about that night … uh…"  
Shikamaru cracked a smile, the left edge of his mouth quirking upwards in a slightly teasing smirk that drove Temari crazy.  
"Yeah, speaking of which, are you like, afraid of thunder in addition to your fear of the dark?"

Temari flustered, hastily snapping, "Hey! I …"  
Temari trailed off, unable to snap something back proficiently and instead hung her head bitterly accepting it.

"Yeah … whatever, so what if I am?"  
Shikamaru smirked again before replying, "Nothing, I just think it adds to your cuteness."

Temari blushed.

"How is being scared of something so childish cute?!"

Shikamaru gave her a lazy grin, "Because, it just proves that even the badass chick can be a sniffling little girl once in a while."

Temari growled as he chuckled, the smile on his face growing wider as he laughed, which made Temari's heart skip a beat.

"But just because you're scared of something, shouldn't mean you should be embarrassed about it."  
Shikamaru gave her a genuine smile, placidly stating, "Having something you're afraid of isn't something you face alone; someone should always be there for you."  
Shikamaru grinned wider, "Like how I was there for you."

Temari stopped stunned in the hall suddenly as she stared at Shikamaru who turned to stop and stand in front of her, his eyes questioning her almost teasingly as to why she had stopped walking. Temari couldn't believe what he had said; not long ago, Temari and Shikamaru were bickering at one another about whatever they talked about (she didn't remember anything) and now he was … being awfully nice.

Shikamaru observed her expression; which seemed to amuse him greatly. Her jaw line was set tough and locked in place as she ground her teeth together in deep thought. Her eyebrows furrowed as she frowned to herself, her eyes being the most alluring shade of teal he'd ever seen. Sometimes he wondered how it was possible to have eyes in that particular shade of teal. He liked her eyes; it sort of reminded him of clouds. Though clouds weren't teal at all …

"… are you listening?"

Shikamaru blinked in surprise before snapping back to his senses.

"Eh? I'm sorry, I zoned out, what did you say?"

Temari gave him a sour glare before shoving his jacket back in his face.

"This. I had to give it back right?"  
He took it and gave her a confused look as to why it was so … clean. Temari crossed her arms, giving him a twisted frown as she muttered with slight embarrassment, "Look, it was a little dirty when I got home. My brothers were asking why the hell I was wearing a boy's jacket and I had to roughen them up to get it back. I had to laundry it to get it cleaned up. I even had to patch up the holes in that thing …"  
Shikamaru shook his head; knowing that the holes in the jacket had already been in the jacket before he gave it to her – it was old and worn out and had holes in the pockets and tears in the hem – he was surprised to think she could even sew.

"So … you know how to sew?"  
Temari frowned.

"A little. Kankuro was the one who bothered to teach me; ironically he's an expert at it. Mostly he's good at anything that involves strings."

Shikamaru cracked another smile, slipping the jacket on as he chuckled, "Why am I not surprised."

Temari stared at him wearing the jacket and mindlessly tapped her finger on her bottom lip staring at him, making Shikamaru grin at her blank expression.

"Hey, are you listening to me this time?"  
Temari blinked and flustered, seeming to angrily pull her hair out mentally as she laughed nervously outwardly, "Ahahahaha, sorry, I was just thinking how nice it looked on you."

Temari stopped laughing before realizing what she just said and Shikamaru blinked once. Twice.

"_Sh*t!"  
"What did she say?"_

"Uh … excuse me?"  
Temari laughed nervously again, only this time holding out her hands in innocence, "Oh, uh, ahahahaha – not like THAT. I was just, you know, it has nothing to do with me liking you or anything!"  
Temari wanted to smack herself. Now she was making it sound like she liked the lazy bum or something! Ugh, and to think for that split second of her life she actually thought he looked nice in his jacket … Shikamaru didn't give her a teasing smile or a smirk; he simply gave her a small genuine smile before looking down at his jacket saying, "Yeah, I understand. Thanks for the compliment though."

Temari blinked twice before he leaned over and tweaked her nose; giving her a sly expression.

"Now don't get any ideas. I was just thanking you for your once in a lifetime kindness."

Temari angrily swiped at his hand and he stood back amused while she snapped, "Oh shut up Nara! I can be nice sometimes too you know!"  
"Not as often as girls should."  
"Shut up!"  
"See?! Girls are so mean."

"No we're not! Girls aren't mean ALL the time; it's just you annoying boys that make things so difficult for us that we have to yell at you idiots all the time!"  
"Excuse me? You're speaking to a guy with over 200 IQ-"  
"AND BARELY USES HIS BRAIN WHEN HE SHOULD!"

"Stop yelling for God's sake, I have sensitive ears you know."  
"Oh, sure~! SENSITIVE EARS!"

Shikamaru shook his head as he walked with Temari down the hall with her bickering loudly against him; surprisingly enough, he wore that jacket almost every chance he got from that day forward. Why? Who knows? But all that those two knew at the time, there was no way they'd be in love; there would be no way that it would happen. However one person was determined to hook them together and wasn't about to give up on trying; she was only beginning.

* * *

**Yeah ... sorry if it was bad. I will punish myself for my lack of joy writing this chapter; it's difficult taking all these classes at my school and keeping up with my grades AND doing this for you guys. I'm sorry if it sucked, I probably said before in some other chapter or whatever that I wouldn't do this again, I'm so sorry it happened again. If I disappointed anyone, forgive me. I wouldn't even blame anyone for unfollowing or unfavoriting this story (or me as an author) from their accounts because I suck. However to those who genuinely liked it; you must be like, freaking amazing people to be able to enjoy something that was wrought from the tired and exhausted mind of a school student at like, two AM. Anyway, hope you enjoyed, thanks to all that liked it (even to those who hated it) and supported (and to those that may de-support me) this story and me as an author, and I hope I can finish this story soon. If there's any requests for a valentine special for the upcoming february, post about it, I'll see what I can prepare ahead of time for you guys so you can enjoy it. Thanks and keep reviewing, wait patiently (I'll be out for a while yet still since testing for the finals is going to come soon - whoopee (extreme sarcasm) so excited for it.) and I'll be back with chapter six next time! :D**


	6. Regrettable Choices

**Hi guys! Sorry for being so late on updating, I had this huge project to complete and I must say, it was challenging. It also had me go through so many challenges and crappy checkpoints which sort of sparked the fuse on what I plan to have Shikamaru and Temari go through during a certain festival program - enjoy and I hope it's worth waiting for! I'll try to get chapter seven out as fast as I can; thank you for being patient and enjoy!**

**RECAP: **

**Temari had always thought Shikamaru was a lazy bum with a cold shoulder; but he has recently shown a warm side to his seemingly lazy and bitter edge and has appealed to Temari to some degrees. However she still believes he's a notorious lazy ass with stupid logic; a guy she'll never fall in love with! However there is still the mysterious photo-taker on the loose and Ino seems to be bent on winning her side of the bet she had made prior to all of this about Temari and Shikamaru - swearing that the two would hook up before the end of the year. However on Temari's agenda, she didn't intend to sweep it out to start booking it up with dates with the Nara jerk ...**

**Shikamaru has always seen Temari as a troublesome, irritable, and loud speaking b*tch. However he's seen her soft side; scared, thoughtful, and oftentimes honest. However those were rare moments, but he lately, he couldn't stop thinking about her. What if these feelings MEAN something? Shikamaru is scared to find out, but when the chance arises, will he be willing to find out? He struggles to understand his own feelings and deal with the troublesome girl that has now become the center of his thoughts ...**

* * *

**Chapter 6: Regrettable Choices**

"Why are there so many god damn people?!"

Temari hissed to herself as she glared through the crack in the door to the thick crowd that clouded behind their café. No doubt that half of the people were here to indulge themselves in the chance to take glorious pictures of Temari and the others; she wasn't surprised to find them mostly consisted of junior girls – any girl obsessing over one of the hottest boys in school would no doubt miss this opportunity to take a photo.

Temari stepped back and slid the door closed again, glaring at the clock as it seemed to tick down the seconds like a time bomb; why was it so fast?! Temari tugged at the hem of her dress, feeling exposed as her legs were revealed from the mid-thigh down, why was this necessary, she had no freaking idea. But one of these days, she'll round up all the seniors who made this and punch them in the faces – hard.

Temari was tempted to tear the bunny ears on her head to shreds as she heard a soft chuckle behind her. She glared over her shoulder at Shikamaru who lazily sprawled himself across three chairs, grinning to the ceiling as he snickered at Temari's previous comment, "Oh Temari, you're so funny sometimes."

Temari continued to glare at Shikamaru; his bunny ears bent over his face irritatingly.

"In what way?"

"Everything."

"You just shut up and sleep Nara; then we'll see who's funny when you roll over and fall on the floor."

"Ha-ha, so tempting."

Ino shouted from across the room to Temari, "Oi! Temari! Shikamaru! Don't get started, it's annoying when you two bicker like a frustrated married couple-"

"Clam it Ino!"

Ino rolled her eyes as she dropped her attention back at her phone, shaking her head as she played a game app on her touch screen with Kiba at her side probably playing the same game. Choji was discussing the last minute details with the senior cooks as Lee manned the cashier. Neji was fussing over Tenten's cat ears as Naruto and Hinata were playing an interesting game of thumb war; Hinata seemed to be winning every single time. Of course, Sasuke was running around the room trying to escape Sakura who chased after him with a teasing giggle; when would that girl ever realize that he has no freaking interest in her? Temari crossed her arms and sighed as she leaned up against the wall, closing her eyes briefly to soak in the moment; beyond this door, she was going to face public humiliation. The things she had to do for a grade … a measly, pathetic, project. She doubted it was worthy of being called a project; more like a death sentence.

Temari opened her eyes before looking up at the clock, cursing as she shouted to the rest, "Guys! It's almost time to open!"

Frantic scrambling broke loose as everyone jumped to do their jobs; Naruto and Hinata broke their hands apart as they ran to tell the seniors. Neji finally dropped his hands from Tenten's hair before working quickly with her to make sure everything was in order; pushing in chairs, smoothing down table cloths. Kiba and Ino tucked away their phones before warning Lee with the news as Temari swiftly pulled out a stand up chalk board; which served as their menu by the door. Shikamaru lazily got up from the chairs and sighed, "I never have time for myself."  
"Shut up Nara and get in position!"

"Chill it Temari! I'm coming, I'm coming."

Shikamaru pushed in the chairs and walked over to stand beside Temari as the rest lined up next to them, ready to properly address their customers as Kiba and Ino took their positions by the door, ready to slide them open. Temari watched the clock tick down … ten … nine. .. eight …

Neji messed with Tenten's cat ears again as Naruto grabbed Hinata's trembling hand reassuringly, giving her a soft smile and an inaudible whisper in the ear; which miraculously stopped the trembling in her hands.

Seven … six … five … four …

Sasuke was tempted to scratch Sakura's hands off his arm as Kiba and Ino stood by the door apprehensively.

Three … two … one …

Ino and Kiba slid the doors wide open and Temari started the chorus with the others shouting loudly over the crowd's cry of surprise, "WELCOME TO SWEET TALK CAFÉ! ENJOY YOUR TIME HERE, PLEASE ENTER IN A CALM, ORDERLY FASHION-"

Shikamaru suddenly grabbed Temari's arm, pulling her back as the others moved backwards with them, "Sh*t! Make a run for it!"

The junior girls lost their minds; they screamed as they stampeded inside the café, phones whipped out and others holding out their digital cameras high over their heads. The others moved towards tables to claim seats and wait to be served as Temari and the others tried to calm the junior girls. Temari shouted loudly, "Please! Take a seat, we will serve you shortly; please, don't climb on tables, please, don't touch that!"

Sasuke was swarmed by girls and was clawing past them for air and sanctuary. Naruto cornered himself and Hinata in the far corner in order to protect her and not really himself, as the girls clawed at Naruto screaming for a pose of some sort. Kiba was trying to calm the girls down as they demanded a photo be taken by each and every one of them, and of course … Shikamaru was up on the tables jumping around shouting curses at the junior girls as he tried to dance away from their grabbing fingers.

Temari looked up to the ceiling sighing.

"By the love of God …"

"ENOUGH!"

The junior girls stopped taking photos and turned to the familiar bellowing voice; principal Tsunade had entered. The angry woman shouted red faced at the girls grabbing the boys screaming on the top of her lungs, "IF YOU'RE NOT HERE TO BUY SOMETHING, GET YOUR REARENDS OUT OF THIS CLASSROOM – **ON THE DOUBLE, NOW, NOW, NOW!**"

The junior girls whined in protest as they were marched outside; few were able to grab a few seats giggling to one another as they shared their catch of photos. Principal Tsunade turned to Jiraiya (who was standing by amused by the girls) with a sour expression, "First of Jiraiya, you're doing a h*ll of a job keeping things in order."

"Hey, it was funny!"

Temari shook her head as Jiraiya went into a long discussion with the principal on how all of this was 'acceptable' and someone elbowed Temari as she redirected her attention at whoever it was.

Shikamaru eyed her strangely as he jerked his head towards the tables around them, "Excuse me but waitress? We've got work to do."

Temari flustered as she fished the notepad out of her apron pocket before muttering, "Geez! I know, just give me a second alright?"

Temari and Shikamaru began to weave their way through the crowds at the tables asking for orders and serving drinks. Shikamaru was always sure to stay close for whatever reason that Temari wasn't sure of. He would occasionally suddenly shift in front of her from certain boys which tempted Temari to ask him about it; but he didn't look at her as he dealt with another customer's order.

Temari's wrists grew sore from carrying trays and her fingers now cramped trying to write all the orders down quickly as she her legs ached from running back and forth from the tables to the kitchen just to transport the order and deliver available orders to the customers quickly. Temari knew she wasn't the only one though; Sasuke was tugging at the collar of his waiter uniform as Sakura gasped to keep up with the flow of orders. Neji fought to help Tenten as he dealt with the barrage of customer complaints as Naruto patiently (surprisingly) helped Hinata with the orders she was taking from certain customers. Kiba and Ino seemed to do fine; quick on their feet and fast speaking and writing with blinding speed, they were able to work efficiently with dead accuracy – some of the qualities Temari would die for right now. Shikamaru wasn't doing very well; not to mention most of the customer complaints were coming because of HIM.

Temari listened to a customer protest in anger as Shikamaru asked for her order, "What do you mean I can't have any lemonade?"

"Because, like I told you, WE'RE OUT AT THE MOMENT. Unless you want to wait ten more minutes for the next batch to come around, you're currently out of luck."

The girl frowned at Shikamaru, stubbornly snapping back, "But I want LEMONADE!"

Shikamaru's expression turned sour as he mentally thought to himself, _"Oh my God … this freaking b*tch just won't stop will she?!"_

Shikamaru slipped the notepad back in his pockets as he leaned across the table to glare at her angrily, the girl's friends giggling as they admired his smooth back as he leaned across them, "Look, when I'm telling you to either pick something else or wait for the next ten minutes for your f*cking lemonade, I mean for you to stop-"

"-Here you go miss. Your lemonade."

The girl looked up in mild surprise as Temari swooped in to place a glass of lemonade before her, whipping out the rest of their orders as she stood up and apologized for Shikamaru.

"Forgive him; he's a bit on the sour side today."

Shikamaru gave Temari an incredulous expression before exclaiming, "What? I feel fine thank you, this b*tch here is just being such a-"

Temari grabbed Shikamaru's ear in her left hand, twisting it painfully while forcing a smile on her face, forcing him to bow with her in apology at the customers who watched Shikamaru fluster in both anger and pain with giggles. Temari dragged Shikamaru off to the side as he broke free from her pinching fingers.

"God Temari! Don't f*cking do that to my ear! I don't need to get it pierced TWICE thank you!"  
Temari tucked a tray under one arm as the other sat planted on her hip accusingly as she scolded Shikamaru, "You sir, need to shape up. You want us to get a good grade? Then for the love of God, STOP pissing off the customers! We're being graded on service too you know!"

Shikamaru snorted, "Yeah, I know, I'm not stupid Temari. But that girl was just being a total b*tch-"

"SHIKAMARU NARA!"  
"I'm just stating the facts!"  
"Pull yourself together and suck it up! Deal with them, all of them! We need to do this right so we can get this all over with, so stop making such a scene and think for once!"  
Shikamaru rolled his eyes, muttering under his breath as Temari stood tempted to slap the boy. Why was he being so irritatingly impossible today?! Today of all days! Ino rushed past the two and barked angrily, "Oi! Lovebirds! Stop bickering and start taking orders! No time for you two to be loitering around!"  
Temari angrily shouted back, "Again, we're NOT dating!"  
"Forget it Temari; let's just get back to work."

Temari watched Shikamaru grumpily slip off to take another customer's order as she shook her head. She muttered to herself as she walked about taking orders and avoiding sprawled legs from tables.

As the minutes turned into hours, more and MORE people flooded in; pictures were constantly being taken by the bright flashes that flared up from tables and irritated customers kept waving in the air asking for service. With the wild and almost unbearable conditions, Temari and the others sped up; wiping tables clear, retrieving dishes, taking orders, serving; it was a blur to Temari and a constant, repetitive course of action; ask, get order, serve, clean tables, take back dishes, ask, get order, serve, clean tables …

Temari stacked the dishes on her tray and turned and rushed towards the kitchen, running into Kiba who was walking in the opposite direction straight at her with his tray piled with a new order. His eyes went wide as Temari noticed him approaching and attempted to stop before she collided into him.

"_Sh*t! The dishes!"_

The trays collided in a loud bang, the dishes flipped over and breaking into a million shards on the ground. The drinks spilled on the ground and Temari felt herself slip and fall down towards the glass.

"_Crap…"_

* * *

Shikamaru knew she was growing steadily tired. He could see it on her face; with every tray she lifted and served, her smile grew more forced than ever. It was tiring enough already for her to act with courtesy when serving, but now it was getting wild with the people piling in and demanding service. Of course there was more pressure for everyone now that Jiraiya's seniors had came in to watch their performance to grade them for participation and efficiency. Shikamaru did his best not to smack every girl he served with his tray as they made annoying comment about him or asked for a picture. He forced himself to keep calm and mannerly turn them all down asking simply for their orders.

He was serving another table when he briefly looked up to check on Temari; she was wiping down a table as fast as she could as a few customers called out to her for refills. She nodded to them all, a bit overwhelmed as she quickly pushed the dirty dishes on her tray and turned and started speed walking for the kitchen. Shikamaru already knew what would happen the moment he realized that Kiba stood in her way trying to squeeze past tables with a tray cluttered with drinks.

"And can I have a- hey! Hey you, where are you going-?!"  
Shikamaru threw down the notepad and ran towards Temari, a few shocked customers watching him as he ran towards Temari and Kiba who collided loudly with glass showering down on the two. Temari slipped on the drinks and screamed in surprise as she fell towards the ground – where the glass was.

Shikamaru came just in time; grabbing Temari he covered her with his arms as he shielded her from the glass as they fell to the ground together. The glass didn't affect Shikamaru much, since he wasn't wearing anything as exposing as Temari, he was pretty much protected by the long sleeved clothes he wore. But nevertheless, the glass bit into his skin wherever it reached; his face and hands. He winced as he laid there with Temari – unharmed – in his arms with the customers exclaiming in surprise.

"Holy sh*t!"  
"Are you two alright?!"

"Where's the nurse?!"

"Someone, go find the nurse!"

"Get a broom, clean up the glass!"

Kiba flustered as he apologized to Shikamaru and Temari, "Oh my God, I'm soooo sorry, sh*t, I'm sorry!"

Ino came storming over and whacked Kiba on the head with her tray, barking at him as she exclaimed, "Yeah, you better h*ll as sh*t be sorry! Now you better go get the f*cking broom or I'll beat you to death until you can't stand!"

Kiba whined as he was herded to the back to get a broom by an angry Ino as the others watched with concern. Naruto covered Hinata's eyes as Sasuke curiously observed the two on the ground with a very stunned Sakura next to him. Temari looked at Shikamaru with wide eyes from where she lied next to him and asked softly, "S-Shikamaru … oh God, are you alright?!"

Shikamaru grunted, unsure of how to react as he gingerly touched the cuts on his face.  
"Hmm … I wonder, am I?  
Temari's face evolved into an angry expression.  
"God, Shikamaru! Don't do something stupid like this! Why do you have to do things you're not obligated to do you big idiot-"

She was beginning to get up in anger and Shikamaru grabbed her again, forcing her to fall back into his arms as she fell there stunned. He growled in her ear, "Idiot … you wanna get glass on yourself? Take a look around – glass everywhere."

Temari eyed the ground next to them and saw the ground peppered with glass shards. If she had gotten up, more than likely she'd fall on the glass and Shikamaru's efforts would've been in vain.

"Oh …"  
"Yeah, who's the idiot now?"

"Shut up Nara!"

"Not to mention I've haven't heard a thank you from you yet. I just got myself injured for your fat ass you ungrateful b*tch. Of course, all I'd get out of you is a command to shut up."

Shikamaru didn't mean to make his words sound sour; but he was a bit angry that she was acting this way. Why did he have to come over and put himself in this position? He didn't know; maybe he felt obligated to, but whatever the reason was, he did it and she wasn't thanking him.

"Hey, I didn't mean to, I, Shikamaru I'm-"

"Forget it."

Temari eyed Shikamaru as he looked away from her, clearly angry at her as she fell silent. What did she do wrong?! Sure she didn't say thank you yet, but why was he so sour about it? Boys like Shikamaru, she'd never understand.

Sasuke and Sakura aided Shikamaru and Temari to their feet as Ino observed Kiba when sweeping up the glass around them, constantly whining as Ino harshly pointed out his poor sweeping abilities. Sakura swiped glass from Temari's dress as she fretted over her, "My God Temari! When you were about to hit the glass, I thought you were done for! But then Shikamaru came just in time to save you; did you say thank you to him yet?"

Sakura looked between the two; the sour expression on both of their faces as Temari awkwardly spat, "Thank you Nara …"

Shikamaru snorted, turning away from Temari as Sasuke eyed him strangely.

"Whatever. Just take better care of yourself, there's no way I wanna do this sh*t again for someone as ungrateful as you."

"Hey-"

Suddenly the nurse came running in and the students running along stride with her shouted to her as they pointed at Shikamaru and Temari.

The nurse confirmed that Temari was fine and ordered the area to be thoroughly swept and cleaned of glass before marching Shikamaru off to her office. Temari glanced at where the seniors stood who eyed her with something she couldn't identify as they flipped through their papers in a clipboard and marked a certain sheet who she suspiciously felt was hers. Temari now felt terrible; first she pissed off Shikamaru by not being grateful when she was, and now the seniors was probably counting off points on her grade just because she wasn't showing gratitude – why did everything go downhill when she didn't bother saying a simple 'thank you'?! Why didn't she?

The others urged Temari to get back to work, forcing her to help the others for the lost time they had wasted when cleaning up and sending off Shikamaru to the nurse.

* * *

"Ouch!"

"Tut-tut, what did I tell you? I told you it would hurt."  
The nurse chuckled as she shook her head, the tweezers in her hand releasing the glass shard she had plucked from Shikamaru's hand, adding it to the pile of glass shards in a plastic container to dispose of later. Shikamaru sighed as he relaxed his hand again, letting the nurse search for other shards working quickly to remove all the glass.

"Though I must say; once the students came running into my office, I've never seen so many girls distressed."

The nurse smiled at Shikamaru.

"You're quite liked among the girls."

Shikamaru sighed, "They really have no reason to, I'm just a lazy unattractive bum anyway."

"Nonsense! From what I've heard, you're the smartest and most understanding young man among all the other juniors here."

Shikamaru kept silent as the nurse began disinfecting his cuts.

"Though I must say … you came a long way from being completely washed out and being notoriously mischievous, to being a well liked genius."

The nurse joked around again as she added, "I'm surprised you haven't dated any girls yet."

"Please, girls are just a waste of time."  
"I'd like to disagree."  
"And why would you say that?"

"Don't you like that sand district girl?"  
Shikamaru blinked in surprise as the nurse continued with a smile, "I must say, it always makes me smile when I see the two of you walk down the halls together whenever you're patrolling the school or going to class. You two seem so happy whether you're bickering or conversing to one another; you're always smiling around her. It'd be nice if you two were dating."

Shikamaru blushed, grumbling to himself as he replied, "I … I don't like her like that … I'm just … a friend I suppose."

"Say that all you want Nara, you'd be surprised at how many kids your age quickly discover the silly notion of 'friendship' with the other gender, is just a lie."

The nurse smiled as she applied the last bandage on his hands and teasingly added; "Besides, if you don't act quick enough, someone else might snatch her up before you do."  
Shikamaru flustered, "Nurse! I have no intentions of dating her, please don't get any silly ideas of some romantic drama between me and-"

"Good luck with her! Now shoo-shoo, and don't get hurt no more! I've seen you too many times when you were a freshman; have a good time during the festival Nara!"

The nurse successfully herded Shikamaru out of her office before closing her door, laughing softly to herself. Shikamaru ran a hand through his hair, wondering just how many teachers thought the same way the nurse did …

* * *

Finally the café closed, giving the exhausted juniors a chance to have their own fun during the next two days which was left of the festival.

Ino satisfyingly sat down in one of the empty chairs and sighed, fanning herself with a menu sighing, "God … how satisfying is it to see all these empty chairs?!"

Kiba nodded, "No kidding …"  
Naruto leaned across the table mopping his forehead with a towel as he mumbled, "Yeah … hey, has anyone heard from Shikamaru yet?"

Choji checked his phone and shook his head, "He hasn't contacted me about anything yet. I hope he's alright."

Sasuke snorted as he leaned back in his chair.

"Nara has always taken care of himself; I wouldn't be too worried about him."

Ino glared at Kiba as she threw her menu at him, "Yeah, WE ALL HOPE HE'S ALRIGHT."

"Hey! I never meant to trip up Temari which made Shikamaru dive in like a madman; don't blame me for something Shikamaru did out of love!"

There was another crash of glass as everyone glanced at where the sound emanated from; Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"Oh geez … "

Temari had dropped a glass cup she was wiping and she mumbled a soft apology as she went to get the broom.

Naruto grinned slightly, "Heh, guess Subaku can't handle the thought that Shikamaru just might be in love with her."

Kiba chuckled, adding teasingly, "Yeah, who would've thought that the lazy bum would fall head over heels for such a hot head-"

"UZUMAKI! INUZUKA!"

Temari chucked a tray their direction – which connected with Naruto's head – and roared, "**SHUT UP YOU F*CKING IDIOTS!**"

Ino watched another tray sail over the room to take down Kiba (who was laughing at Naruto) as she sighed.

"Honestly, you two make it sound like Temari and Shikamaru are getting all chummy over one another; though it is true-"

"SHUT UP INO!"  
"Don't forget Temari, that bet is still on, so naturally I'm going to take Naruto and Kiba's side on this."

She winked teasingly at Temari.

"Sorry!"

"Why you …"  
Hinata tapped on Temari's shoulder who turned to look at her slightly agitated by the roaring laughter coming from the rest.

"T-Temari, d-don't you like S-Shikamaru?"

"Eh?"

"H-he's not a bad person so I-I was just wondering w-why you don't seem to l-like him."

"W-well, it's not that I don't like him, I just don't LOVE HIM, I only appreciate him as a good friend. Honest Hinata, we're only friends."

Sakura snickered.

"And we ALL know how THAT is going to last."

Temari began chasing Sakura with another tray as Kakashi entered the room.

"Alright now, group number four, here are your grades."

Everyone crowded around Kakashi as he handed out slips of papers with their grades printed out. Ino and Kiba cheered happily as they received full marks; obviously for their efficient efforts. Sasuke and Neji, indefinitely, received full marks as well. Tenten received a ninety five (since she had trouble with a few customer complaints) and Hinata received the same grade (Naruto always had to help her since she was shy). Naruto surprisingly got a hundred, and Shino (who Temari forget was even here) also received a hundred for helping Lee with the orders and cashier work. Long story short; nearly everyone got good grades. Kakashi handed Temari's last, watching her skeptically as she looked between her grade and Kakashi.

"Please tell me this is a joke."

"No, unfortunately, it's not."

Ino hopped over and snatched her grade slip out of her hands and asked, "What did you get Temari?"

She stared at the two digit number on the paper as Temari snatched it back, flustering angrily as she hissed, "INO!"

"Holy sh*t! Kakashi, why did she get a sixty five?!"

The others eyed their teacher with incredulous looks as Ino pushed on, "Temari worked just as hard as us! Just because she collided into Kiba earlier and –"

"Don't ask me why her grade is like that; I had Jiraiya's seniors grade her."

Ino fumed as Hinata looked over at Temari sadly.

"I-I guess that means y-your Saturdays will be spent being t-tutored by teacher Guy …"

Temari remembered the threat that was made that had driven her to do her best during the grading; if she failed, three hours of her Saturdays, for the rest of the year, would be used to be tutored by teacher Guy … NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

"Kakashi sensei! Please! DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS GRADE! You know I don't deserve it!"

Kakashi shook his head, "Unfortunately Subaku, I can't do anything to change it. I wasn't there when you were working in this café of Jiraiya's, but whatever the seniors gave you, I'll have no choice but to trust they did it out of just judgment."

Temari looked over to where Jiraiya's seniors stood in the far back of the room; they glared at her with venom practically dripping out of their glares as they held up a small sign that read: "F*CK U, U UNGRATEFUL B*TCH!"

Temari wanted to march over and murder them all; how dare they give her a bad grade just because she seemingly ruined the relationship between her and Shikamaru – WHY WAS EVERYONE SO F*CKING SENSITIVE ABOUT THE TWO OF THEM?!

Ino saw the note the seniors held up and grinned, the grin mirrored on several others as Sasuke and Neji rolled their eyes.  
"However, Subaku, I understand that most of Jiraiya's students are … opinion driven."

He eyed the students who quickly whipped the sign behind their backs whistling innocently to themselves playing with their phones in their hands.

"That is why I managed to speak with Principal Tsunade, and she has agreed with me that you wouldn't need to take tutoring sessions with teacher Guy. Besides, Guy has too many students who failed booking the three hours of each of his Saturdays in the rest of this school year; he himself is a bit sour about it."

Temari sniffled, "But-but- my grade-"

"Don't worry about it; the Principal was just trolling with you guys – it's not a grade at all."

Kakashi left the room before anyone had a chance to explode in anger. "WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!?"

"Geez, what's with all the commotion in here?"

Everyone turned to see Shikamaru walking inside; bandages on his hands and face as he gave everyone a bored expression.  
"Well? Anyone care to explain-"

"IT WAS ALL IN VAIN!"

Shikamaru was now jostled by the shoulders by a furious Kiba as he wormed his way out of his grip slightly shell shocked as he asked, "Um … why?"

Sasuke irritably crushed his plastic cup he was drinking water out of and growled, "The teacher … told us the principal wasn't going to make this a grade in the end."

"Eh?! Principal Tsunade?!"

Everyone grumpily nodded; Shikamaru glanced around and asked curiously, "Um, has anyone seen Subaku?"

Naruto blinked.

"Eh? Temari? I could've sworn she was here a moment ago …"  
Neji jerked a thumb towards the door.

"She slipped out a moment ago."

Shikamaru wordlessly exited and everyone looked at one another, grinning they shrugged to one another; the seniors in the far back furiously texting posts on their phone about a Shikamaru and Temari drama moment. Shikamaru scanned the crowds for the four ponytails as he searched the crowd. He wanted to catch up with her and tell her that he was sorry; he felt terrible for snapping at her because he didn't get the thank you he must've been wanting subconsciously when he saved her from getting hurt. Now if only he could find her …

* * *

Temari left the school premises to seek refuge in the playground down the block as she settled in a bench near the slides; now she wouldn't need to be bothered by anyone and take this time to rest. But she mostly left because once she heard Shikamaru's voice enter the room, she found herself propelled out the door and out of the school. She didn't want to have to face him, it was bad enough she didn't say thank you when she should've, not to mention now that everyone was a bit sour at her just because she pissed the Nara kid because of it. Urgh! Complicated situations like this …

Temari shivered, the cold evening wind making her curse – why didn't think of grabbing a jacket before running outside mindlessly?! It wasn't the fall season for nothing. Temari curled up in a ball rubbing her arms muttering to herself disappointedly. She watched the kids play on the playground noisily, their parents off to the sides watching or videotaping them with smiles all around.

She watched a mother embrace her daughter with a smile, tugging on her daughter's pigtails with a smile, tapping her on the nose as she took her daughter's hand in hers and led her out of the playground … the father walking beside them as they held their daughter's hands on either side of her as they swung their arms happily.

"Hey …"  
Temari recognized the drawling voice as she turned to look at Shikamaru who leaned over with his face cupped be his hands which were propped on his elbows on the bench's edge, he gave her a look as he muttered, "… aren't you cold in that?"

Temari was out of her waitress uniform yes, but she had unwisely dressed in a thin t-shirt this morning to school because she couldn't find a clean pair of long sleeves among the piled clothes which was intermixed with her brother's clothes – she no longer had the patience of pulling out a pair of boxers each time she thought she found something suitable.

"What do you care? It doesn't matter."  
He eyed her with an amused grin as he added, "Hey … are you mad about what I said earlier, calling you an ungrateful b*tch?"

Temari glared at him as he came around the bench to sit beside her, locking his hands behind his head as he leaned back, sighing.

"Maybe …"

"Look, don't take it personally. I was just spewing random crap; I wasn't feeling like myself during that time okay? So just ignore what I said …"  
"Well, it wasn't just YOU who called me an ungrateful b*tch, the seniors apparently think the same way – and pretty much about everyone else."

Shikamaru smiled, "Oh, really now? I must be very influential."

"Shut up Nara; because of you, everyone thinks we're a match."

"Hmm, so it's my fault?"  
"YES!"  
"In what way? I didn't do anything; they simply take one look at us and they get this silly notion in their heads that we look 'perfect' together. Ever think about maybe it's just the public's opinion? There's no need to start pinning the cause of everything on me simply because you hold a grudge against me …"

"W-well, I- WHATEVER NARA!"

She flustered angrily to herself as she looked away, glaring at the bench yards away as he smiled at her.

"A-Anyway, let me just take this moment to say something very important …"  
"Like what?"  
"Something I should've said earlier …"  
He eyed her as she turned to look at him with a slightly angry blush in her cheeks, God … her pride wouldn't let her choke it out smoothly.

"Hmm?"  
"T-Thank you for … helping me out back there …"

He gazed at her a moment longer before smiling, is eyes closed as he simply leaned back on the bench chuckling, "Geez … isn't it a bit too late to be saying that?"  
"H-hey! Saying it later is better than never, right?!"

"It feels better when you say it at the moment of action …"  
"NARA!"  
"Okay, okay, geez, I accept your gratitude, you're welcome."  
He gave her a placid smile which made her blush, unnerved by his strange smile as he added somewhat slyly, "However … because you have shown gratitude to me … I'm going to expect compensation for this."  
"Eh?"  
He pointed at the bandages on his face.

"Well for starters, I wouldn't have had to get my face scratched up for your sake if I had known you wouldn't have been grateful about it. Secondly, you said thank you when we were alone rather than when we were in public; so that shows you're embarrassed to be seen around with me-"  
"H-hey, that's not true-'  
"So if you wanna prove me wrong, that you're not embarrassed to be around me and that you really are sorry, you'll give me compensation for my actions."

"You little …"  
Temari bit back her next words as she sat there thinking, mumbling to herself as Shikamaru watched her with a sly grin. She then begrudgingly approved, "Fine … what do you want me to do?"  
"Well, you're going to walk around with me at the festival the next two days and buy me everything and anything I want-"  
"HEY! I'M A PENNILESS WOMAN AND YOU EXPECT ME TO PAY **EVERYTHING AND ANYTHING-**"

"-don't interrupt. Anyway, it's either that, or you're going to have to do something else for me; which would either result in an IOU, or something far more publically embarrassing …"  
He grinned at her horror stricken face as he shrugged, "But hey, I'm giving you the opportunity to choose; so there's some flexibility to this…"

"You little devious piece of sh*t-"

"Fine then, you can just consider this as an IOU you owe me later on …"  
"I HATE FAVORS!"  
"Then do as I say; unlike you, I have nothing in my pockets to waste; it's more appealing to have you pay for everything other than wasting my own money on myself."  
"I will so murder you Nara … one of these days, I will-"  
Temari sneezed, making Shikamaru jolt and move away.

"Sh*t! Warn someone before you start sneezing on other people will you?!"  
"Ugh … maybe if I'm lucky, I'll get SICK so I don't have to walk around in public at the festival to pay for your lazy ass …"  
Temari sniffed, rubbing her arms as she sneezed again in the other direction, Shikamaru rolled his eyes and sighed.

"Seriously, girls are so mindless and troublesome …"

Temari turned to snap at him, "HEY! Say something like that again and I'LL BASH YOUR BRAINS IN-"

Suddenly he pulled Temari closer to him as he unzipped his jacket, hugging her close to him as he pulled his jacket over her as she leaned against his warm chest, making her involuntarily blush as he rested his chin on her left shoulder.

"You don't even have the decency to think ahead and grab a jacket in cold weather."

"N-Nara … get the f*ck away from me …"  
"You sure you want that? By the way, the temperature is dropping, if you wanna sit here in a rapidly dropping temperature of sixty degrees and under, be my guest."

He began to pull back when Temari dug her fingers in his hands, causing him to stop and keep his arms wrapped around her.

"B*tch …"

"You'll thank me later, I know you will."  
"Shut up …"

Somewhere in the bushes, a camera was lifted through the screen of green leaves and zoomed in on the two, taking a precise photo before slipping away sneakily, leaving Temari to blush in Shikamaru's arms in the chilly autumn evening in comfortable silence …

* * *

The next day came quickly; when Shikamaru left Temari that evening, he couldn't forget about her smooth back against his chest, whenever he thought about her body against his, he kept blushing. It tormented his thoughts ever second of the night that day; he barely got the precious sleep he needed. Oh well, at least he'd have his fun teasing her today. He always liked festival days; one, they didn't have classes during the three day period, and two, the last day of the festival was on a Friday – the weekend came shortly after. So it feels like a five day weekend, which he loved since he could do whatever he wanted during that time. Heck, if he wanted, he could skip the festival and stay home. The teachers and staff wouldn't care; he was a good student, he could do almost anything he wished. Shikamaru decided he'd walk to school today (feeling productive for once) instead of taking the bus.

'_Maybe I'll run into Temari …'_

He stopped walking and kicked himself mentally.

'_What am I thinking … why do I ALWAYS want to see that annoying, unattractive, hot head? Why … why?_'

He shook his head as he sighed, walking past a few houses before someone called out to him, "Shikamaru! Oh Shikamaru, over here!"

He turned to look towards the voice, a woman stood by one of the house's gates waving cheerfully, a hand to her pregnant stomach as she smiled at Shikamaru.

"Oh, Mrs. Kurenai! I almost forgot that you lived around this area …"

"Oh Shikamaru, you're forgetting about a lot of things now sometimes, aren't you?"

"Nyeh, just a bit."

She smiled as she subconsciously rubbed her stomach, which brought up another question to mind.

"Oh right, how is your baby?"

"Hmm? Oh yes, she's due in a few months now."

"Eh? A girl?"

She looked at Shikamaru with laughter in her eyes as she chuckled, "Yes, a girl."  
"Eh?! When did you guys find out?!"

"Recently. Didn't your father or Asuma tell you about it?"

"Not really …"  
Shikamaru scratched the back of his head trying to recall if they ever did.

"I only saw Asuma once, and my dad hasn't said anything really. I guess it either means they hadn't told me or they did and I just don't remember."

She smiled with her hand still at her stomach as she replied, "Well, now you know. Our baby is going to be a girl."

Shikamaru gave her a small smile.  
"So, what are you and Asuma going to name her?"

Kurenai continued smiling, "We're still debating over that."

"I don't blame you two; girl names are a bit more debatable than boy names – you want a girl name that's pretty and unique. Though I suppose some boy names are pretty negotiable, though personally I'd find naming a girl more troublesome."

"Do you plan on having a child of your own later?"

He flustered at her direct question, her curious eyes looking at him as he suddenly had his thoughts redirected to Temari – which he didn't understand why.

"N-No …! Well, maybe. But like I said a long time ago, just a normal girl, not too pretty, not too ugly … and...well, yeah …"

Kurenai smiled.

"Well, whatever you end up deciding to do, I hope you find the girl you're hoping for."

"Yeah …"  
"Another thing, I've heard there were a few new transfer students at your school."

"Erm, yeah …"

"Anyone you know?"  
"Well yeah …"  
"Shikamaru … why is your face red?"  
"Eh?!"

"Is one of them a special girl of yours?"

He flustered again, finding his tongue twisted as she smiled slyly.

"Ahhh … so even Shikamaru has gotten to the point of finding potential wives … this is a sign that you're no longer a child …"

"K-Kurenai! Please, that's a sensitive topic … please don't talk about it with me."

Kurenai giggled, her fingers at her lips as she winked, "Okay, but who's to stop me if I talk about it with Asuma?"  
"Oh please …"  
"Assistant principals know quite a lot about school drama you know …"  
"You're still a big fan with gossip aren't you?"  
Kurenai smiled.

"I'm a female; of course girls like a bit of good gossip now and then, no matter how girly or tomboyish we may be - gossip is always an interesting subject."

Kurenai then shooed him away, insisting that she had wasted enough of his time and sent him on his way back towards school, after his encounter with Kurenai, now he had all these questions floating in his mind.

Who will he get married to? Does he even plan to? If he did, would he even consider having kids with whoever the girl may be? Sh*t, why was he thinking about this?! He wasn't even in college yet, he was still in high school! Shikamaru sighed, rubbing his temples he told himself, "Geez … don't bother with the troublesome details, worry all about it later ... later …"

"Shikamaru~! Hi-you~!"

Shikamaru turned to see Ino charge at him, head butting him teasingly as he nearly toppled over.

"Crap, Ino! Don't barrel into me like a boar!"

She pouted at him.

"Didn't I tell you NOT to call me a boar?!"  
Sakura walked up behind her and smirked.

"You're not called 'Ino' for nothing you pig."

"Shut up forehead!"

"WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?!"

Hinata hurried in quickly and wedged herself between the two girls with an innocent look on her face, "P-Please, we're going to have l-lots of fun at the festival, p-please don't get mad over one another … let's stay as f-friends for the festival!"

Ino tsked, turning away with a sour expression as she hissed, "Whatever, Sakura would never compare to me when it comes to become the potential and idealistic wife for Sasuke!"

_Wife …?_

Sakura snapped, "Shut up! You're too ugly to be suitable for Sasuke; unlike you, I'm just too pretty to even be COMPARED to you – you ugly pig!"

_Too ugly … too pretty …?_

Ino smirked, "Well one thing is for sure; Sasuke's offspring would TOTALLY look so much cuter with my blond hair and my eyes – who'd want creepy, pink hair when they're born?"

_Offspring …?!_

Sakura shook her fist at her, "Pink is a BEAUTIFUL COLOR! Plus, if the kids don't like it, they can always dye it! I'd be an AWESOME mother unlike you; you'd probably spoil them until they're all mini-Ino brats!"

_Mother …?_

"S-Shikamaru? Your face is red, are you alright?"

Shikamaru snapped back to reality as he eyed Hinata who stood beside him with a concerned look on her face, he laughed nervously, scratching the back of his head he mumbled ,"Huh? Oh, ha-ha, y-yeah, I'm fine. I just-"

"HEY YOU B*TCHES! THANKS A LOT FOR DITCHING ME BACK THERE, WOULDN'T BOTHER TO HELP ME ESCAPE MY BROTHER NOW DID YOU?!"

Shikamaru felt his cheeks grow hotter as he recognize the piercing voice, "Oh God ... Temari…"

Temari came stomping down the road towards a placid Ino and Sakura and grabbed them both by the front of their dresses, "DON'T YOU TWO HAVE THE DECENCY TO HELP OUT?!"

Hinata raised a hand shakily, "I-I tried to ... help …"  
Temari smiled at her like an angel (which made Shikamaru's stomach flip) as she purred, "Oh Hinata, you're the sweetest, most angelic one here. I don't blame you for ANYTHING, you're good with me girl …"

She turned back to Ino and Sakura and hissed with a dark, malicious tone in her voice, "BUT THESE TWO JERKS, OOOH NOOOO, THEY'RE B*TCHES THAT DESERVE TO FEEL MY FURY. THEY DIDN'T EVEN **TRY**TO HELP OUT …"

Temari rambled on to the two girls who appeared slightly disturbed as Shikamaru watched partially out of curiosity and the rest was amusement; it was funny watching Ino and Sakura being chewed out by someone else, it didn't suit their personalities as Temari barked at them bitter insults.

"Her brother Kankuro had tried to lock her inside the house because of the incident she had with you back at the café; he thought you two were a match and that you were saving her out of your relationship with her – he assumed you two were dating."  
He jolted with surprise as he realized Hinata was still standing beside him, watching the three girls claw at one another angrily shouting at one another as she eyed Shikamaru.

"It'd be nice if you two were dating."  
Shikamaru flustered (surprised that he was the one stuttering and not Hinata) as he replied stammering, "I-I, no, no, y-you see, oh God … "

She smiled at him.  
"You two look so cute together."

He blushed, wondering just how many more people would tell him THE SAME DAMN COMMENT as he flustered, "Hinata … I'd say the same thing about you and Naruto."

He found a new comeback as she blushed wildly, looking away as she fingered her lips with wide eyes.  
"I-I don't know what you're talking about-"  
"You like Naruto right? You two would look AMAZING together."  
He smirked at her as she squirmed in her spot, "Nara, please keep quiet, I-I don't want Ino and Sakura to hear about this and tease me about it again …"  
He snorted, "Then don't do the same to me about Temari."  
"I wasn't teasing you two-"

"Forget it Hinata, just forget it."

She slightly pouted but kept quiet about it, soon after Temari finally realized Shikamaru was there and stopped dead in her tracks.

"Oh … sh*t …"

He waved at her with a notorious grin on his face, "Yo."

She turned around stiffly and muttered, "Please … tell me that, that Nara kid isn't there …"  
Ino bluntly kicked back, "Oh he's there alright."  
She stood there silently before she suddenly broke into a run, followed closely by Shikamaru as she screamed, "NONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONO-"

"SUBAKU NO TEMARI; GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE-"

"I WON'T PAY FOR YOUR SH*T, I WON'T, I WON'T, I WON'T-"

"**GET BACK HERE!**"

"ACK! WHY ARE YOU RUNNING FASTER?! GET THE HELL AWAY FROM ME!"

In the end, Shikamaru had successfully dragged her back towards the school by one of her pigtails (thank the lord for her pigtails) as she whined about her unwillingness as Ino and Sakura stood to one side smirking with sarcastic remarks. Even Hinata didn't want to help.

"Hinata~! Why~!"

Temari whined for Hinata's help who mercilessly didn't reply or try to help; she secretly wanted Shikamaru to get closer with Temari and if it meant having her be dragged off by him, so be it (she was always careful not to show her devious side to anyone though …).

"Seriously! I'm not that big of a money spender alright?! I won't make you pay for a lot of stuff-"  
"How the hell am I supposed to believe a word of your mouth?! You hang around Choji all the time; we ALL know how much he spends money on food! There's a TON of food at the festival, I bet you stuff your face crazy like he does, but never have the money for it – YOU'RE GOING TO PURPOSEFULLY STUFF YOUR FACE WITH ALL THESE EXPENSIVE SH*T-"

"Shut up and just buy me some Taiyaki."

"Screw your Taiyakis …"

"For that, you're going to buy me five."

"Sh*t!"

"Watch your mouth; or everything is going to double."

"H-Ha! Like you could eat twenty or even ten of those-"  
"I could always invite Choji over-.'  
"HEY YOU! FIVE HERE PLEASE!"

He watched her amused as she bitterly opened her purse and pulled out the money as the senior handed her order, who begrudgingly handed it to Shikamaru. He was certain that he'd have his fun with Temari for the rest of the day.

* * *

Soon enough, Shikamaru walked around the school premises with Temari pointing out certain stalls he wanted to buy things from (typically mainly only food – less troublesome to carry since he'd devour them) and eventually he heard about the second floor.

"The second floor had a variety of games and programs; it's fun, it's new, and it's only from now and tomorrow – go and try it out!"

The senior shoved a flyer in his hands as she went off to say the same phrase to another person, he examined the flyer and didn't bother to read the programs and games; all he saw was the high prices. Temari came back with some dango, she eyed the flyer and saw the large numbers and paled, "Crap … Shikamaru, you're not thinking about the second floor-"  
"Come on, let's go."  
He bit off his share of the dango as Temari mumbled curses behind his back, which he made a mental note of so he could make her do something embarrassing for him.

The second floor was naturally very popular; crowded and loud and extremely noisy, Temari had some trouble following after Shikamaru.

"H-Hey! Nara! Where the hell are you-"  
A hand grabbed Temari's and gently pulled her through the crowd, she realized it was Shikamaru and not some molester and she relaxed. She let him navigate her through the crowd and eventually they stopped at what she noticed was a haunted house. He stood there grinning at her as he pointed.

"I want you to go in there."  
Temari took one look at the senior at the front door (who had some EXTREMELY convincing blood on her face with what appeared to be a real knife she was playing with) and paled.  
"Okay, this isn't part of the deal, I was supposed to be BUYING things, not doing sh*t-  
"You are. You're BUYING your entrance fee into that, I'll be waiting out here for the priceless results."

She crossed her arms stubbornly and snapped, "Hell no!"

Shikamaru shrugged.

"Oh well then. If you went in there, I was going to let you off the deal and you can go have fun-"  
"HEY YOU! GHOST GIRL! GIMME A TICKET IN THERE, I'M DOING THIS SH*T!"

The 'ghost girl' looked at Temari and suddenly threw her knife towards her, Temari stiffened in place and didn't dare move; the knife sailed past her shoulder and stabbed the sign behind her – a sign hanging there from what Shikamaru suspiciously considered the times the same person threw the same knife at – which read "ADMISSION: 500 YEN."

"Pay the price … and you may enter at will."

The girl had the creepiest drawling voice as blood (fake blood … hopefully) dribbled over her lips, Temari nervously paid it and the senior shuffled towards the door and pulled it open a crack – inside was dark and empty. The girl held up a finger to make a point, "This will take about ten minutes; maybe longer if you can't find the flashlight and make your way back out through the ten classrooms. To escape; you must locate the key to the door and get out that way. Tip: ten seniors have been reported to have been sent to the hospital after attempting the same challenge; last year, five to ten juniors and seniors were sent to the same hospital and two teachers were rushed to the ER – good luck on that note."

Temari flustered as she shoved her inside, closing the door she locked it and went back to sit down beside her chair, pulling out a magazine and reading off it as Shikamaru heard banging on the door. The senior looked p at Shikamaru and gave him a questionable look, "Well for a boyfriend, you're being awfully cruel towards her. Treating her well?" Shikamaru blushed (for the umpteenth time) and muttered, "We're not dating; I'm not her boyfriend?"  
"Eh? But you two look so perfect together –"  
There was a faint scream and the girl rolled her eyes.

"Geez … that must've walked in the wrong room; I'm gonna guess that's the corpse room."  
Shikamaru was tempted to throw up, _'corpses_?' The senior asked another question, "So, how is she with haunted houses?"  
"Well she hates the dark and she's scared of thunder and probably other loud noises."  
She senior clicked her tongue, "Eesh. She's not going to do well."  
"Excuse me but is it true that those people went to the hospital…?"

The senior smirked.

"Don't get your panties in a wad; she'll be fine. Unlike other cool haunted houses, ours is premature. And no, those seniors and juniors who got 'hurt' were mostly because they attempted to take out our haunted house members or jump out the window – the two teachers however were just meek about everything and fainted the moment they stepped inside, they were sent to the ER because of high blood pressure."

"Oh."

"Yeah, don't expect too much from us. You want scary sh*t? Go to the one that'll be open on the third day – it'll be outside at the creepy abandoned hospital behind the school; I've heard that's got five stars every single festival it's been open to."

There was a loud thump inside the rooms and a swearing Temari as Shikamaru heard her running away from the source of the noise; he wished he was in there videotaping it, it didn't seem at all fun having her inside without him seeing her reactions.

The senior checked her watch and shook her head, "Eesh, it's been fifteen minutes already. Your girl will probably take at the max of twenty minutes; after that, I'm gonna have to pull her out."

Shikamaru shrugged, "That'll be fine."

"Hmm. I'd recommend the other one to you two though; scary as hell."

"Thank you, but I only made her do this because I'm teaching her a lesson."  
The senior raised her eyebrows at him.  
"For what?"  
"A lesson to learn to be grateful."  
"How ironic of you to be sending her off into a haunted attraction."

"I'm a nice guy."

"Sure you are."

Suddenly there was a sound of a lock being jiggled around in the door behind the senior as she stood beside it as she watched the lock rattle around. Shikamaru gave her a questioning expression as she answered his unasked question, "It's jammed purposefully. There's supposed to be someone running head on towards her right now, hopefully it'll either make her faint or she'll be petrified when I open the door for her."

"Nice."

Suddenly she yanked the door open and Temari came tumbling out with another person who rolled out with her, Shikamaru realized it was a guy and immediately thought one thought; molester.

The boy got to his feet and laughed, his entire body was covered in black paint and was dressed in a torn black and red robe, he held a long blade (plastic probably) by his side as fake blood stained his body.

"Sh*t! She's a hell of a screamer!"

Temari curled up on the ground muttering to herself as the crowd around them moved past them, either amused at Temari or irritated that they blocked the flow of the hallway. The senior threw her magazine at the other senior.

"Knock it off Hidan, you've done enough."

"Did you hear her scream? I just talk about doing a bit of 'voodoo' and she starts screaming sh*t at me; I like screamers like her!"

He laughed as he nudged her with a foot, "Hey, hey! Get the hell up now, it wasn't THAT scary, the one at the hospital is a different story; hey chick! Get up already!"

Shikamaru pushed past him and placed a gentle hand on Temari's arm, "Hey Tem. Get up, people are staring-"

A hand shot out and grabbed him by the throat as Temari suddenly screamed, "**I'LL MURDER YOU NARA, MURDER, MURDER, MURDER, MURDER-**"

The senior named Hidan grinned, "I like this chick even more now."

Temari turned to look at Hidan as she cursed, crawling towards Shikamaru as he unconsciously draped his arms over hers protectively, "F*ck, get that molester away from me!"

"Molester?"

"Oh that? Yeah, I kind of had a little fun with her back there; telling her things I really wouldn't do with her."

He grinned.

"Though that might quickly change."

Shikamaru glared at him as Temari clung to Shikamaru muttering again. The senior laughed, waving in the air as he replied quickly, "JK, JK! Don't give me that look boy, she's ALL yours!"

Hidan grinned again before walking back inside the haunted house, "But you better keep your tabs on her; you never know if I might wanna hook up with her if I find out you two aren't dating."

The senior by the door whacked him on the head.

"Idiot. They're juniors?"  
"Who cares? I've had my fun with a few juniors."

"You slutty piece of sh*t …"

Shikamaru ignored the two seniors and felt slightly regrettable about letting her go inside, Temari still clung onto Shikamaru like a petrified cat and he had to carry her somewhere they could rest.

"Tem, hey Tem! Snap out of it will you?"  
Temari kept stunned clinging to his shirt and he sighed. He pried her fingers away and slapped her face a few times.

"Tem, Tem, Tem, Tem, Tem-"  
She grabbed his hand and snarled, "STOP CALLING ME TEM DAMN IT!"

He smiled (more out of relief) as he snorted back, "Oh, you're back. Good."

Temari squirmed out of his lap and sat beside him as they watched the crowd move past them, he began to apologize, "Look, sorry for sending you in there. If I had known there was a slutty haunter and that you REALLY were scared of the dark and stuff, I wouldn't have pressured you to do it-"  
"FORGET IT NARA."

Temari shivered from where she curled up in the corner, she trembled with her hands clutching her elbows – her knuckles white. He felt bad now; he meant for it to be a funny experience for him, but now he just felt like a complete jerk. He'd have to make up for it …

"Hey um, if it makes you feel better, maybe I could like you know, take you around buying things for you this time …"  
Temari stopped trembling, he watched in growing horror as she put on a growing twisted grin. She turned to look at Shikamaru with a dark, evil look.

"You'll buy and do ANYTHING I tell you … yes?"  
"Um … y-yeah …"

"You swear?"  
"Uh … I don't know about it now-"  
"GOOD! LET'S GO BOY – I KNOW **EXACTLY **WHERE TO TAKE YOUR B*TCHY ASS!"

She grabbed his wrist and yanked him roughly through the crowd, running through the halls in blinding speed that they made it there quicker than he hoped.

* * *

"Here we go!"

Temari cheekily grinned at him as she stood beside the door reading "Sleeping Beauty" and he eyed Temari suspiciously.

"Okay … what am I supposed to do?"  
Temari smoothed out the flyer they received earlier and read the brief description of the hosted attraction, "Well it says here: _Inside slumbers a 'sleeping beauty', only for males – no females please. What's the whole point? You get to play the 'prince'."_

Shikamaru frowned as she grinned at him evilly, "Heh-heh-heh … I saw a couple guys a while back talking about how they got to kiss this chick … they also mentioned that if the girl actually 'awakens' to your kiss, she'll give you a prize."

Shikamaru paled.

"Uh, sorry. I don't give free kisses to people-"  
"Nope! Get your f*cking ass in there b*tch; I wanna witness this. Maybe I'll be nice enough and NOT take a picture so I don't post it on my Facebook."

Temari chuckled evilly as she dragged Shikamaru inside by his collar, inside a short (like, dwarf short) senior stood in front of a curtained area as he spoke with a fake beard taped to his chin messily as he piped up loudly, "MALES ONLY-"  
"Cool it, I'm not here for that kiss; HE'S here for it though. I'm just here to watch."  
The dwarf senior eyed the two; Shikamaru was flustering beside her making slicing motions over his throat behind her as she cackled to herself insanely rubbing her hands together – he looked up to the ceiling and sighed, "_Oh God, another one of them …"_

He waved over the boy.

"Come 'ere."

Shikamaru reluctantly stepped up and he held out his hand.

"This'll be 300 yen please."  
He reluctantly paid it; an evil look on Temari's face as she watched the dwarf go behind the curtains to prepare the 'sleeping beauty' and Shikamaru had to wait outside with a hand to his lips.

"Crap, crap, crap, crap-"  
"Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes-"  
"SHUT UP SUBAKU!"

"GET IN THERE NARA!"

Temari pushed Shikamaru forward the moment the curtains peeled back. He nearly tripped over the short senior as he fell with his arms planted out as he grabbed the edge of the bed lying there; he glared behind him at where Temari stood but realized the curtain was redrawn. He wanted to laugh, "Heh, guess she can't witness it after all." Realizing he said it out loud he slapped himself.

'_Sh*t!'_

He looked around hoping nobody heard that but only saw the sleeping girl senior before him – whom he was suspiciously leaning over.

Cursing he jumped back, prepared to run away but stopped himself.

"_Sh*t! I REALLY don't wanna do this crap. Hold up … maybe I could LIE and tell her I did and she didn't wake up and walk out guilt free …"_

He was about to step back out but the dwarf senior suddenly jumped inside and shoved him back, scaring the living soul out of him.

"No, no! I didn't' see you attempt! Either try it or stay in here for God knows how long before you gather the guts to kiss her!"

Temari cackled behind the curtains and Shikamaru blushed; the things he did for her, he hoped it was worth it, just to make her feel better, but now he suspiciously considered that she was just acting all scared back there to make him to this sh*t …

He turned back to the senior and growled. He decided to get it over in one quick blow. He scrunched his eyes closed and leaned down quickly, saying his prayers that it'd be short and quick.

Temari was disappointed to hear the dwarf senior neglect her of watching the scene, but at least she'd have the upper hand now that she knew he actually kissed a girl; so if he were to ever tell anyone about her embarrassing haunted house reaction, she'd spread this awful tidbit to the crowd. Honestly however, she felt her stomach twist at the thought of his lips on another girl … she slapped herself, the dwarf senior eyeing her strangely before talking back to his cell phone. She sighed and leaned back against the wall snorting, '_Ha! Like I'd care if he was a good kisser or not … I feel bad for the girl in there. He must suck …'_

She started to think about his lips again.

'_Surely he does … he just gotta …_'

Suddenly here was a muffled yell behind the curtains and the dwarf pull back the curtains, surprised at the scene.

"Damn ... Tayuya, you're having a bit too much fun there aren't you?"  
Temari stood slightly stunned to see Shikamaru unable to pull himself back from the girl who had reached up to grab the back of his head and keep him there as she kissed him back with a grin on her face, when she pulled back she sighed, "Yup! I've finally got a damn good one here! His lips were soft, but he was planning on pulling back, nope! Wouldn't let THAT happen!"

Shikamaru staggered backwards and Temari supported him back to his feet, he stayed there in her arms gasping for air – lipstick smeared across his lips where he rubbed at furiously. He coughed to no one in particular begging, "_Sanitizer … soap, anti-bacterial wash- _SOMETHING TO WASH THAT FILTHY TASTE OUT OF MY MOUTH!"

Temari stiffened; just how far did this Tayuya decide to play with him? Oddly, it made her regret she let him do this in the first place.

Tayuya, the 'sleeping beauty' senior grinned at Shikamaru with her hands planted on her hips as she purred to him, "Are you her girlfriend? I must say, she must be damn lucky- there are only so few juniors and seniors out there that are good kissers. You're among the few I've actually liked, the others I had to endure through. Yours was beautiful; soft and firm – JUST the way I like it."  
Tayuya looked at Temari's red face, "You must LOVE it. I wish I had a guy like that."

The dwarf broke it up, "Now, now, get back behind that curtain Tayuya. You keep harassing the juniors about their relationship and you just may get us pulled out of the program; we only got to do this because Jiraiya sensei recommended us to the teachers and thankfully, half of them are romantic creeps. So don't blow it over for us and do your job right."

The dwarf shooed Tayuya behind the curtains (after she winked to Shikamaru purring, "Call me when you break up with her!") before handing Shikamaru his prize (which was actually a sweet looking watch).

"Here you go. And before you leave …"  
The two stopped before leaving, the dwarf crossed his arms before asking with narrowed eyes, "…are you two a couple?"  
The two answered in unison, "HELL NO."

The dwarf stroked his fake beard, '_Hmm … this must be one of those potential couples I've heard about.'_

"Well then, friends?"  
Temari eyed Shikamaru who eyed her back, they answered in unison again, "Sort of."

The dwarf nodded before asking, "Alright then, do you two get along-"  
"NO."

The dwarf blinked as he calculated in his mind, '_Hmm … they'll be a tough one.'_

He smiled before asking another question, "Fine then, how do you two feel about a little 'endurance test'?"

Shikamaru and Temari eyed the dwarf suspiciously before turning heel and stalking away flat out droning together, "NO."  
The dwarf chased after them, "No, no, no! Wait! Hear me out; if you win this, you can actually win a HUGE prize!"

Temari and Shikamaru stopped in their tracks. They turned and asked like robotic twins, "What is it?"

The dwarf shook his head at their creepy synced replies and began, "Well, this is a test which is also being used for a study of 'relationships between good friends' by a few seniors in the school. This is basically to test the endurance of a relationship between two good friends and to see if in the end, they can STILL be cool and alright with one another other, other than storming away and screaming angrily – which would prove that they aren't good friends. Basically, you go through a series of challenges, variety of games and tests and you have to go through 'racing' competition against the other competitors. In the end, if your results turn out to pin you two as 'good buddies', you'll receive a –"

The senior coughed to one side, hiding his face from them as they suspiciously waited for the next words.

"-EXCLUSIVE chance to skip school for a few days and have fun with one another at a fully paid trip to an organized trip to downtown Konoha!"

Temari blinked; she heard about downtown Konoha – there were great attractions there and awfully cheap; to have a fully paid exclusive trip, was nearly too good to be true. Not to mention the great stuff she could shop for down there …

Shikamaru enjoyed the downtown area; great food, awesome shows, and a good natured crowd. Though it may be crowded and loud, he didn't mind it down there because it was always fun and great; he always went down there at least once during the summer with his friends, it was always fun. But with Shikamaru, he always had that 'picky' feelings about spending money; as much as he enjoyed being down at the downtown area, he couldn't do much because he wanted to save money. Now for a fully paid trip to go there … (even if it was with Temari) it was something totally not worth skipping out on. Temari and Shikamaru also found another bonus to the deal; skipping school for not one day, or two days, BUT A **FEW** DAYS. The challenge was on.

Shikamaru nodded, hands in his pockets, "Well, count me in."  
Temari punched her fist in the air cheerily crying a loud battle cry, "BRING IT ON!"

The dwarfish senior grinned before holding out a hand.

"Well, admission fee is 500 yen per person-"

Shikamaru and Temari turned to walk away again as the dwarfish senior cried out, "M-make that just a 100 yen per person-!"

They came back and slapped it in his hands. He shook his head sighing before holding out two paper wristbands.

"Please put this on and go to where this flyer tells you to go; good luck and have fun!"

He waved at them goodbye before running back to his 'Sleeping Beauty' attraction as Shikamaru peeled off the sticky end of the paper wristband and applied it to his wrist and helped Temari with hers before reading the slip.

"Hmm. First floor, second entrance to the west wing, ah, I know that-"  
Temari hissed, "So do I idiot. I don't patrol the school for nothing-"  
"Yeah, but you still have a bad sense of direction-"  
"SHUT UP NARA!"

There were a few seniors who watched the two stalk down the halls bickering as they spoke into their walkie-talkies, "_Well, it was just as that girl told us, they're cute together but incompatible …"  
"Didn't she say they were getting unintentionally chummy with one another though?"_

"_Yeah, the photos she sent were pretty damn straight accurate; I couldn't trace any photo shopping done to it, seems legit."_

"_She also said that despite being a bickering pair, they have high potential of being paired together…"_

"_Well we ARE testing other things alongside the endurance between dating couples…"_

"_Let's hope that these two will be the first we successfully pair in the end of the challenges…"_

* * *

"Well. Here we are."

Shikamaru stopped at the second to last door at the west side of the school and double checked he didn't mistake the destination address.

"Okay, all seems to be in order-"  
"Let's get this over with already; I WANNA SKIP SCHOOOOOOOL!"

Temari enthusiastically kicked the door open and was instantly swarmed by a bunch of seniors, all shouting out with cheerful cries screaming, "WELCOME TO THE ENDURANCE OF RELATIONSHIP TEST! A SERIES OF CHALLENGES TO TEST A COUPLE'S COMPATIBILITY; FUN, LONG, AND OF COURSE – CHALLENGING! THIS IS HOSTED BY SENIORS STUDYING SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS SO YOU WILL BE REQUIRED TO TAKE THIS TEST REGARDLESS OF ANY OBJECTIONS – ALSO, NO REFUNDS!"

Confetti flew over their faces and Shikamaru and Temari froze.

"_Couples …?_"

"WE'RE NOT DATING!"

One of the seniors gave them a frown and stopped throwing confetti over them.

"Huh? But you two paid for admission, aren't you two … dating?"  
Temari pointed at Shikamaru and cried, "DO WE **LOOK **LIKE WE'RE A COUPLE?! HOW COULD A GIRL LIKE **ME **DATE A GUY LIKE **HIM?!**"

Shikamaru added in, "Same goes for me concerning the b*tchy one here."

"SHUT UP NARA, NO ONE ASKED YOU!"

"Well this concerns me too you know, besides, they just shouted in our ears no refunds so I wanna talk out of this with some compensation. You see sir, this was all a misunderstanding, a refund is necessary at his point-"  
"SHUT UP NARA AND LET **ME **DO THE TALKING-"

"CLAM IT SUBAKU! YOU'RE **YELLING** RIGHT NOW, I DON'T THINK THAT'S TALKING-"

"NARA!"

"SUBAKU YOU-"

The senior waved at the two of them to piped down, sighing he rubbed his temples and mumbled, "Geez … did you meet guys meet a dwarf senior who made you pay your way into it in the first place?"  
"YES!"

"Aw geez … you two must be the 'potential' couple …"

"Excuse me?"  
"Potential?! What is that supposed to mean?!"

"Well we're also testing for non-couples to enter the test; if you two end up dating either at the end of the challenges or in the course of a week after the test, that means we've successfully paired you two together. However if it proves that you two ARE not compatible with one another, you will be disregarded from the test results and if you win, you will still receive your prize, thought with some disappointment of course …"

Shikamaru considered the options; well one, they didn't have to be dating to enter, non couples could take it and there was by high chances that they WOULDN'T date in the end –that's just plain crazy. Also, if he took these challenges with Temari, he could see where these annoying feelings lead to – out of annoyance or possible … love? Shikamaru wanted to have the answers, so he agreed, "Okay, count me in."  
Temari gawked at him.  
"B-But WHY?!"

"Wouldn't it be nice if we could prove to the others at our school how INCOMPATIBLE we are? Then it'd end the silly notion that we're a couple and we wouldn't have to bother about it; seems like a good plan to me at least."

Temari clammed up and frowned, true enough, that was possible. But Temari had heard about this notorious challenging test (read it in a magazine about relationships) at her school festival – nearly ninety seven percent of the participants ended up being extremely compatible and the other three percent proved to be utterly incompatible and broke up in the predicted time frame of two to three weeks later – which was 100% dead on accurate as each and every couple that was incompatible broke up the following weeks. She heard that they were testing something new though; could non couples be predicted compatible before predicted chance of them dating? It was an interesting article, but Temari had dismissed it quickly; not thinking such a thing existed at her school and that she'd never have anyone potentially curious for her to take it with, and she forgot – the magazine came from her school so obviously the test originated from the school. It was the one she was about to take now; and how convenient, with that stupid Nara jerk. But who cares now, they said it was 'required regardless', she wasn't about to ask about the 'or else' end of it and didn't want to bother with it, so she reluctantly sighed and agreed.

"Fine … but Nara, you better get us that grand prize, and no, I REFUSE to date you in the end even if it ends up that we're 'compatible' for one another-"  
"Who says I've ever planned on dating you, troublesome woman?"

"B*TCH! WHO WOULD WANT TO DATE YOU?!"

"Oh shut up and listen to the seniors already."  
The seniors looked up to the ceiling and hid a smile, "_Well these two will be surprised with the results …"_

"Alright then, a quick guideline of the rules; rule number one – you must always be together at all times and perform each challenge together. Try to do otherwise and you shall be disqualified. Rule number two – NO CHEATING. It will NOT be tolerated and you will be immediately disqualified with inaccurate test results, so don't try it. Please. Rule number three – Have fun. This is for you guys; we still want you to have fun. If in the end, things get frustrating and irritating, use this walkie-talkie to declare yourselves as dropouts – you'll have immediately been disqualified and no prizes to you. And of course, it means you two are incompatible."

The senior handed Shikamaru the walkie-talkie and he clipped it to his belt, '_Let's see how far this goes Temari.'_

'_Please God, just get me that prize and count us as 'incompatibles' I don't wanna think about dating this sucker in the end if it turns out we are compatible, please, help me!' _

"The walkie-talkie is also used for when the mysterious voice on the other end directs you to your next destination after accomplishing a challenge. You must do as the mysterious voice says and must complete it in the time frame appointed; if you fail to do so or try to cheat, there are seniors out there tracking you, they will stop you and disqualify you if they see anything against the rules and you two will be taken out of the program. Also, this is a protected program, so nobody should interfere; however it is a public program, so others will pretty much see you do the challenges and may or may not be questioning you two about it after the test."

Temari and Shikamaru blushed, feeling extremely self conscious now that they had told him that tid-bit; if any of the boys or girls saw the two of them performing awkward challenges … Temari felt like shooting herself and Shikamaru wanted to hide in a closet.

"Now then, please tell your walkie-talkie that you're couple number 74 and begin the challenges! Good luck and have fun!"

The seniors blew their party horns and threw more confetti before making their dramatic exit. Temari sourly looked at Shikamaru with her arms crossed before muttering, "Well, look what you got us sucked into Nara-"  
"Hey, you wanted to take it too!"

"How was I supposed to know this was a couple testing thing?! I bet you knew about it; being a genius with an IQ over 200 – I bet you KNEW about it wanted me to take it with you so you can enjoy yourself-"  
Shikamaru sighed, shaking his head as he lifted the walkie-talkie to his lips, "Oh be quiet already. I never wanted to get myself in this situation with you so stop thinking you're my type and get it in your head that I only want to do this so I can skip school. Are we clear on that?"  
Temari frowned, somewhat disappointed in the back of her head as she snapped, "Well THAT'S a relief to hear; damn straight!"

"Good, now can we begin – CALMLY?"

"Yes, yes, get on with it."  
Shikamaru turned on the walkie-talkie and spoke holding down the knob as he spoke clearly, "This is team number 74, and we've recently joined, any directions for us please?"

When he released his hold on the knob the walkie-talkie crackled back, "_Great, been hoping you two would join._"

Shikamaru suspiciously pinned the speaker as a male as the mysterious voice continued, "_May you please pass the walkie-talkie to your female counterpart so I can verify that you two are together?"_

He handed it to Temari who replied, "Here I am."

"_Oh good, may I have your names please?"_

"I'm Temari no Subaku."  
"And I'm Shikamaru Nara."  
"_Thank you for your cooperation, now, may I ask your relationship?_"  
"NON COUPLE."

The voice didn't reply and when it did, it was coughing.

"_Oh, I see. Well this will be interesting …"_

Shikamaru locked eyes with Temari as the speaker continued to cough loudly, suspiciously faking it out as the speaker continued, _"Ah, anyway, here is your first destination instructions, you two ready?_"

They replied with a 'yes' and the voice rattled off, "_Alright then, you two have received a sash from the seniors earlier yes?"_

Temari looked at Shikamaru who held up a red sash, shrugging to Temari as he said, "I don't know why they gave it to me. Guess we'll find out huh?"  
"Yeah …"

"_If you have the sash, good. Now let me tell you the instructions: you must locate the 'Hubbub' attraction towards the south end of the field outside the school where the bigger and highly recommended games, stands, and attractions are located at. You will spend most of your time there and sometimes you will be relocated to the school from time to time for other destinations, but for now, you must locate the Hubbub attraction. While locating it, you must tie the sash around your ankles and make it there in time without taking it off – you have ten minutes-"_

Shikamaru exclaimed, "Ten minutes?!"

"_-good luck and have fun! See you in the next round, chao!"_

Temari grabbed the walkie-talkie, "H-Hold on a second! Ten minutes isn't NEARLY enough time for us to-"

The walkie-talkie fell dead silent. Temari was tempted to chuck the device at the wall.

"Crap! What do we do Shikamaru – hey! What are you doing?!"

He quickly tied the sash around their ankles and he jerked her forward exclaiming, "I know where it is, I saw it a while back out there, it's practically one of the largest attractions there; plus I know a short cut! So please, just work with me here and let's get there on time!"

Temari flustered as he started to run, she staggered alongside him as they struggled to run in sync, bickering with one another to do it right as they moved past the amused crowd with spying seniors on their tails, making sure they'd follow the rules and silently recording details about their relationship and the challenge had now begun; the truth about the strange feelings that Shikamaru and Temari had felt towards one another would come to light, and finally, they'd understand why they felt the ways they did.

* * *

**I'm trying my best to not say too much at the beginning (author notes) so I don't annoy you guys with the useless info you guys don't need to hear when I ramble. I might even start putting recaps at the top and all author notes at the end so you guy don't have to read it when all you came here for was to read the chapter (but if you read my author notes, great! I appreciate it). **

**Updating is slow for my stories because of a hug project that popped up (but it has a plus side to it, it helped inspire me to plan for the next one or two chapters about Temari and Shikamaru's compatibility test. Hopefully you guys are looking forward to that and I hope you guys liked it and are looking eagerly forward to the next chapter; hopefully this story has been worth your time in the past few chapters, and I hope it stays that way! Continue reviewing, stay patient, and keep being awesome! Please be patient as I work on chapter seven; if you wanna know when the next chapter will come out, check out my profile for any specific dates or vague planning for when they come out - also, if you have the chance, take my poll! :)**

**Thank you all, I appreciate you all and I hope you stay with me at the end of this story and if you like my writing, many more to come. Thank you all again and I'll work my butt off to get chapter seven delivered to you guys! Stay awesome - Pencilfreak17 out!**


	7. Confused

**Sorry for the much delayed chapter update. I managed to get this chapter to be longer than usual and I hope that makes up for the wait. I'm working as hard as I can to get chapter 8 out, please be patient! I apologize for any crude/terrible writing if there is any such as grammar or bad story line. I apologize a thousand times over and I ask you to excuse that; I have still much to improve on and such improvement is story writing. Anyway, I hope this story has been satisfying and worth your time and please, keep reading, reviewing, and enjoying my stories so that it opens up a chance for future (hopefully far more entertaining if this bored you to death) stories. Let me shut up now. Go on, read to your heart's content! (I'm not going to bother with recaps right now ...) **

* * *

**Chapter 7: Confused **

Shikamaru collapsed to the grass with Temari with their legs tangled together. He cursed. This must be the like, the umpteenth time this has happened; she just wouldn't stop tripping.

"Temari … do you WANT me to kill you?"  
"It's not MY FAULT for being a klutz in these conditions! You're running like a galloping horse and I'm being dragged like dead weight – how about you work with me so we can run in sync!?"

Temari shoved him off her and the two struggled to their feet. People passing giggled and laughed at the two, cheerfully wondering why the couple had gone as far as to tie their feet together. Shikamaru noticed the attention they gave to them and he blushed knowing exactly what crossed their minds.

Temari pointed off to the distance exclaiming in surprise, "There! Is that it?"

Shikamaru squinted in the distance and muttered, "Well h*ll yes it is …"  
Temari started running.

"Alright then, let's get there!"

Shikamaru was tempted to run faster, but remembering how they sprawled on the grass, he forced himself to run at her pace; when her left foot rose, he synchronized to follow with his right foot which was tied to her left ankle.

"_God … if the boys saw me right now …"_

Temari and Shikamaru staggered the rest of the way, steadying one another whenever one of them would dangerously tip over or start to trip as they finally made it to the Hubbub. They crashed through the doors and collapsed at the ground wheezing and coughing as the senior that stood waiting stood over them with a smile as he clicked the end of his timer.

"Phew~! You two made it JUST in time!"

Shikamaru was sprawled next to Temari wheezing with one arm thrown over his forehead slick with sweat as he groaned, "F*ck … never again …"  
Temari sat up and sucked in deep breaths as she fumbled with the knot that tied the red sash around their ankles as she muttered, "… never again am I doing this sh*t again …"

Eventually Shikamaru had to untie the sash himself as the two achingly got to their feet. Temari could swear that there'd be fresh bruises the next morning for her, considering she had fallen and tripped countless times in a lifetime while getting to the f*cking place …

The senior grinned at the two as he held up a hand.

"Alright then! First off, team number?"  
"Uh, 74."

"Couple or Non-Couple?"  
"NON COUPLE."  
The senior raised his eyebrows at the unnecessary stress on the words, but nonetheless, he eyed the two and smiled slyly.

"Hmm, interesting pair …"  
"Can we just know what our challenge is?"  
"Yes, of course, always."

The senior snapped his fingers and two girls came inside rolling a whiteboard on wheels into sight, swinging it around so the board faced Shikamaru and Temari. They stood off to the side as the senior slammed his hand on the white board.

He smiled at the look of realization that fell on their faces.

"Now then, as you can CLEARLY see; the Hubbub is hosting not just a place for idle chat and for refreshments – we're hosting a thoroughly planned obstacle course in the far back in the far fields behind this warehouse. However we created a separate, more advanced obstacle course for couples and non-couples in this special research game for you two to go through. So far, you're the first non-couple to take these challenges, so I can imagine how difficult it may be for you two…"

He smiled as he pulled his hand back from the board and pointed at the drawn layout of the obstacle course on the white board.

"You'll be starting here at the deck. I won't tell you what you'll face; you'll have to figure it out when you face it. But you'll go through three phases; phases 1, 2, and 3. Each section of the course will have obstacles you must cross and pass without getting separated and you two must enter and exit the course together. We're pretty flexible for you guys on this; do what you must to pass them. This is a course encouraging creative minds to find new ways to pass and escape the course; anything will be accepted as long as you two pass them together working as one without any cheating or trickery involved – as long as it abides by our rule book."

The senior held up five fingers.

"And speaking about our rule book, here are our basic rules; number one – no cheating. For whatever reason, you are not allowed to cheat in any way or form – such acts violate the purpose of working together and you will be immediately disqualified from the game. Rule number two – try not to damage the property. We paid hard cash for this and we're proud of it, so don't ruin it for you and us because then we'd have to figure out who pays for what is damaged. So be respectful and considerate while on the course. Rule number three – well, it's not really a rule, but it's highly recommended; don't get separated."

He noticed the incredulous look on their faces and sighed.

"Trust me, you have no idea how much easier things are working together."

He sighed and shook his head, then he shrugged and resumed talking.

"Anyway, those are our three of our basic rules – one being more of an advice – for the obstacle course. Now others have asked how difficult the obstacle course is. Well upon several cases, we've asked to increase the difficulty of the obstacle course and over time, we've managed, on a seven point scale of difficulty, to have peaked it to a six point four..."

Shikamaru blinked in mild surprise before cursing under his breath, "Damn …"

The senior grinned, crossing his arms proudly he nodded, "Yup. You heard me right; our obstacle courses are so harsh, one can be on their way to the hospital guaranteed upon our statistics of 90% of the time."

Temari bit her thumb, unconsciously leaning towards Shikamaru as she groaned, "I don't want to do this … more running … "  
Shikamaru rolled his eyes to the sky rubbing his forehead groaning, "… more thinking … and more planning. Great. Now I have to burn my brain juices for useless, pointless exercises …"

The senior snapped his fingers again and the girls rolled the white board away. He beckoned to the two and guided them outside through the back of the warehouse. He loaded them in the jeep and climbed in the driver's seat. He drove them down the steep hillside and out on the open fields – there Shikamaru and Temari gasped in stunned shock.

"Damn … and I thought I'd be crappy …"  
"How much money did you spend on that?!"  
"Um, about over twenty thousand I believe."  
"Damn!"

Shikamaru and Temari stared at the impressive expanse of the obstacle course; large trenches and ditches of God knows what stretched around and even deep levels of water were well noted. Half of the course ended into the edge of the forest. There were few crews of people dressed in bright green t-shirts bumbling around the course, setting things up and situating the course. Temari pointed at them and asked confusedly, "Um, who are they?"  
"They're checkpoint crew. They set up the next section of the course for you and make sure you're as safe and okay as you can be. They're also the emergency medical team in case things get … bad."

Temari stared at the back of the senior's head and wondered, "_How bad?"_

The senior finally parked the jeep down by the field and walked them to the starting line. There he waited with them as he spoke to different crew members of the obstacle course to his walkie-talkie. Shikamaru and Temari used this time to chat a little.

"Well this is going to suck …"  
Temari laughed dryly, giving him a sharp glare as she snapped, "Whine all you want Nara, but you entered the game with me, better play it like you mean it so I can go to Downtown Konoha, the oh so amazing place you Konoha inhabitants claim it is."

He raised his eyebrows at Temari like she was some sort of an alien.  
"Are you kidding me? People would kill to go there; you sand district suckers have no chance of knowing the treasures Downtown Konoha has to offer."

"Yeah? What's it like down there?"  
He smiled as he looked away sighing, "Well let me see, the last time I went it was with my friends during the summer. As usual, the food there is amazing. You can imagine how delighted Choji was about that."

Temari kept silent as she stared at Shikamaru as he rambled on, "The service there – for anything – was fantastic. Every penny spent there was worth the price. In particular the library there I personally find quite enthralling. Since most of the boys like playing games or whatever, I like to spend a quiet day in the library reading books or playing chess with random people."  
Temari eyed him with surprise.

"You'd play chess with random people?"  
He smiled.

"Yup. They're always fun to play against."  
"And why is that?"  
He turned to look at Temari with a smirk.

"So I can beat their ass at it since they think they're top notch chess champions."

Temari couldn't help but laugh, laughing both to think that Shikamaru was actually good at something other than his studies and that he had beaten those idiots who were gloating in their own chess playing skills.

"You seem to enjoy chess."  
"Chess is always fun. Anything that requires strategy and critical thinking is my kind of fun."  
He shrugged.

"I don't mind videogames, but sometimes they're so manually programmed that you have to do what it tells you to do, that I don't find it very fun. I only appreciate those videogames where when you play it, you make your own story. The actions and decisions you make creates the story."  
Temari pointed out, "So games like the Walking Dead?"

He looked at her incredulously, "Eh? You play the Walking Dead?"

Temari gave Shikamaru a withering glare.

"What? Didn't expect that?"  
"No, no, it's just … you're a girl so I thought most girls like you would rather be …"

"Like what? Painting my nails? Singing karaoke in the dead of night with a bunch of my girl friends?"

He shrugged, looking away muttering, "Yeah … something girly like that."

Temari snorted, crossing her arms she sourly spat back, "Well gee, it's nice to know that I'm being misjudged by people."  
"I wasn't judging you-"  
"You're such a sexist."  
"No I'm not. I don't think the opposite gender is inferior if you're claiming I think that way."

He eyed Temari with a frown on his face.

"I just happen to have assumed that you'd be … girlier than you let people believe. Guess you really aren't."

Temari shook her head, "Boys …"  
Shikamaru sighed looking away, "Girls …"

"Team 74! Are you ready?!"

Shikamaru and Temari snapped to attention as the senior turned with his walkie-talkie up to his lips as he grinned at the two. He held up a checkered flag and the two stared at it as it fluttered in the breeze. Suddenly the bright digital sign upon the large iron gate glared to life, screaming in neon colors: **ENTER AT YOUR RISK LOVERS – MAY LOVE OVERCOME ALL! GODSPEED! **

"Geez, how cheesy can they get?"  
Then the flag went down, signaling the start as the two surged forward side by side in one stride. The gates were peeled back with a screeching sound of iron against iron as the two entered the obstacle course – beginning their first ultimate challenge.

* * *

"I'm bored~!"

Sasuke looked up at Naruto from his magazine as he snorted; Naruto sat sprawled upon the table sighing sadly.

"Then go and do something-"  
"I can't~! All the attractions I wanted to go to are either filled up with long lines or they closed for the day! Nyeh~! I never get to have fun when I'm ready to~!"

Sasuke snorted, looking back to his magazine he heartlessly retorted, "Sucks for you then."

Neji came back from the snack stand and handed the boys their food; Choji hogging an armload of food as the others selectively chose from the stack of randomly bought food and Naruto reluctantly ate with them. Kiba bit off his food and sighed beside Naruto.

"You're right man; it IS boring right now…"  
Lee shrugged.

"Well there is nothing to do but to sit, eat and talk …"  
Sasuke spoke without looking up from the magazine as he turned the page, "Well we could always go back to our own homes and sleep in …"  
"That's no fun Sasuke!"  
"For you; for me, it's a dream come true."

"Eesh, you're lazier than Shikamaru!"

Choji stuffed his face with the snacks as he spoke through a mouthful of corndogs, "Hey, where is Shikamaru anyway?"  
Neji cautiously bit into his food as he made a face before putting it aside, feeling unwilling to eat anymore.

"Shikamaru left with Temari remember? She had to pay everything for him so he's probably out there somewhere having the time of his life with Temari to pay it all for him."  
Kiba growled, "Lucky b*tch."

Shino had left to join Sai to watch Sai enter into an ultimate drawing competition and so the boys were down by two. Eventually Lee left sometime later by meeting Guy and challenged to a match in another game competition for competitive wrestlers. Even Choji left as he left to cheerfully join an eating competition. Neji, Kiba, Naruto and Sasuke now sat alone together in solemn silence – it was sad. Naruto whined still and Kiba right along with him. Neji and Sasuke rebuked the two as they too however silently had to agree; it was boring. Suddenly Kiba snapped to attention pointing somewhere to the crowd exclaiming loudly, "AH! THE GIRLS! I SEE THE GIRLS!"  
Desperate for anything to do, Kiba and Naruto jumped up from their seats and ran to fetch Sakura, Ino, Tenten, and Hinata. Kiba was the first to reach the girls, grabbing the first girl he saw and grabbed her and swung her around screaming, "THANK GOD FOR FEMALES~!"

Tenten turned out to be the target and she flustered as he swung her around and around off her feet. Neji irked and stood and walked over to take her out of Kiba's arms. Naruto ran to Hinata and gave her a bone crushing hug as he squealed, "Hinata~! I'm so glad you're here; I thought I'd die of boredom! I could kiss you right now!"  
Hinata went pink and was about to faint when Sakura smacked Naruto upside the head.

"Idiot! Get off Hinata! You're killing her!"  
"Oh no! Hinata, I'm sorry!"  
Sasuke sighed as he tried to hide his face behind his magazine, but it was too late – Sakura and Ino had caught sight of him and dreamily waved and greeted at him. Sasuke grudgingly returned the greeting and the girls ended up screaming and squealing. Kiba looked around and frowned.

"Huh, so it really is true; Shikamaru dragging Temari off to God knows where …"

Ino nodded, catching Kiba's gaze as she smirked, "Of course they're off somewhere together…"  
Kiba sighed as he shook his head sharing a knowing look with Ino; only the two of them understanding a silent conversation only they knew about. Naruto adoringly (and childishly) swung Hinata's hands in his laughing and smiling; making the Hyuuga girl blush and fluster. He danced with her around and around being random and ridiculous (and bored) and immediately caught the attention of three seniors. They came running head towards the two and nearly ran them over.

"Holy sh*t-"  
"YOU! AND YOU GIRL! BOTH OF YOU; HOW WOULD YOU TWO LIKE TO ENTER INTO A GAME?!"

Naruto and Hinata blinked in surprise as they were suddenly handed flyers.

"We're hosting a research purposed game for all couples and non-couples; the ultimate Compatibility Challenge – are you two as perfect for one another as you think? Find out by entering NOW!"

Naruto frowned.

"But we're not a couple …"  
"We just said you can enter as non-couples."  
"Eh~ … I don't know …"  
"Well then let me tell you this buddy; those who pass the challenges successfully will receive a chance to travel to downtown Konoha sometime next week and skip school for four days. It'll be paid for room service, hotel booking, food, shopping, events, and attractions – basically an extended festival specifically designed for only you! So if you win, not only do you get to skip school – you get to have fun-"

"I lost you at downtown Konoha; sign us up!"  
He grabbed Hinata's hands and asked her with puppy eyes, "Hinata, you'll enter with me right? Please, please, please, please, pretty, pretty, please?"  
Hinata flustered as he cheered without letting her answer, "Great! Let's work hard for this Hinata!"

Neji was interested to skip school and also so he could somehow keep an eye on his cousin and silently eyed Tenten. She caught his gaze and stared for a moment. Then she sighed and shrugged.

"What the hell; I have nothing better to do. Go ahead, ask them."  
Neji signed up with Tenten for the game and Naruto called out to Sasuke, "Hey Sasuke! You should play too!"

"Play what?"  
"The Compatibility Challenge!"  
"Now why on the world would I do something as foolish and embarrassing as that-"  
"You get to skip school for FOUR WHOLE DAYS and go to downtown Konoha-"  
"Sakura, get over here."  
Sakura brightened and gleefully cheered. She ran to his side and he signed up immediately. Ino eyed Kiba and shook her head grinning; he shared the grin as they knew perfectly well what they'd do.

"You guys go ahead; Ino and I will be off on our own doing other things."  
The boy stared at Kiba as he walked to Ino's side. He gave them a puzzled look as he asked, "What? Why is everyone staring at me like that-"

"For once … Kiba is willing NOT to enter a game against Naruto and Sasuke …"  
Neji stroked his chin as he squinted at Kiba and Ino with a calculative glare, "Hmm … I wonder …"

"No! No, no, no, no, no Neji! You got it wrong bro; Ino and I have stuff to do for some seniors and so we've got to go; nothing to do with relationships or anything alright?!"  
Ino nodded, "We're NOT a pair! We just have very important duties to do-"  
Naruto smirked.

"Uh-huh, sure, sure."

"CLAM IT UZUMAKI!"

"All contestants! Your attention please? I'll begin discussing the rules …"

Ino and Kiba slipped away as the seniors handed each team a walkie-talkie each, restating the same instructions given to Shikamaru and Temari as the game officially begins; including for the three new non-couples who have entered the ultimate challenges …

* * *

"Sh*t!"  
"What?!"  
Shikamaru pawed at the wall barring their way and cursed.

"Another dead end!"  
Temari sighed, hands on knees crouched over and gasping for air.

"Geez! Again?!"

"Yeah …"  
"Ugh, come on, let's retrace our steps and try again!"

Shikamaru marched with Temari back out of the narrow pathway and out into the intersection of multiple roads. They must've tried six already and resulted in the same dead end; only four remained. Shikamaru marked the entrance of the road they just exited so they didn't have to take it again by mistake. Temari eyed the remaining four and sighed.

"Great … you choose Shikamaru. I really have no patience for this maze anymore."

Shikamaru eyed their surroundings; the maze's walls were high and smooth concrete walls – unable to climb and impossible to look over. It would also prevent those from crossing up and over a dead end – which was probably cheating anyway.

"Come on, let's take this one."

The two quickly realized throughout the course of the maze, there would be clocks randomly upon walls counting down in big red numbers; they were being timed.

"We don't have much time until we reach checkpoint one."  
Temari sighed, she rubbed her shoulders and moaned, "How many checkpoints were there?"  
"The senior told us that there are three phases with two checkpoints each. It should be fairly easy considering this field isn't THAT big …"

"More like twelve f*cking football fields put together …"

Shikamaru noticed Temari eventually slowing to a walk. They rounded the corner and faced a dead end. Temari threw up her hands and groaned, "Again?! God, take me now."

Shikamaru gently pulled on her wrist, "Come on now, just keep calm-"  
"Calm?! Those f*cking clocks on the walls are ticking down to less than ten minutes and we're walking around like blind mice in a maze! My legs hurt from walking and running and I'm so tired I could drop dead! How long have we already been in this maze?! Must be for about thirty minutes already and this sucks –"

Shikamaru slipped his hand in Temari's fist and unraveled her fingers to link his in hers. He gave her a teasing smirk and gripped her hand tightly, "Come on now, thirty minutes of running and walking is enough to put you down? You're weaker than I thought."

Temari angrily snapped back, "I'm not saying I'm ready to give up! I'm just tired …"

"You're weak."  
"AM NOT!"  
"Weak."  
"SHUT UP NARA!"  
"Then shut up and get your ass on the move Tem."

He pulled her forward out of the dead end and Temari cursed at him under her breath, "Don't call me Tem …"

He led her back out of the fourth road and marked it as a dead end. He critically eyed the remaining three and estimated how fast they could check each one with the remaining time on the clock.  
"Hmm … each one we can check in three minutes if we run. We have ten minutes on the clock …"

"We could just split and find one and call out for the other to come over and –"  
Shikamaru eyed Temari as he unconsciously tightened his grip on her hand.

"We're not allowed to get separated."  
"Was it a reinforced rule? I don't think so-"  
"But they said we're supposed to do this together and get out together; getting separated isn't going to make this maze easier-"  
"Hey now, it makes things A WHOLE lot easier! Just trust me Nara."

Temari un-twined her fingers from his and smirked.

"I'll check this one and you check that one. If one of us finds the exit, call out to the other. If we both reach dead ends, run as hell back to the center and run down the last road – that'll definitely get us out then."

Shikamaru wanted to stop her, but she already dashed off into one of the roads and he sighed. Turning heel he ran down a separate road, hoping that they'll run into one another again soon…

* * *

The seniors observed the two running on their digital tracker – the senior had attached tracking devices on their clothes earlier without them noticing so that they could discretely trace their plans. The senior frowned as he noted that the two red dots on the screen now split down separate roads in the maze.

"Um … head senior? They split …"  
The head senior took the screen from the other senior and bit his lip.

"Hmm, I did tell them not to get separated …"  
"Perhaps they plan to meet back if they found the exit …?"

"We designed this maze so that all roads had dead ends. The whole point is that they've gotta be smart enough to know that only one of those dead ends have a lower wall than the others – they'll have to help one another up and over that wall and pass the maze. For those with a lower mental capacity or for those stressed out, two of the roads has a hole dug into the ground that will lead them down and under the wall and out of the maze. I doubt they're being smart right now by staying separated …"

"So what do you want to do?"  
The senior unclasped his walkie-talkie from his belt and spoke into it: "Crew team 1. Report."  
"_Crew team 1 captain reporting; the girl has gone down track 5 and the boy has gone down track 7. Tracks 2, 4, and 7 have exits and tracks 1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, and 10 have dead ends. The girl will run to a dead end and the boy, if he's smart, will notice the low wall. But judging by the time he'll realize this, the clock will have reached the last minute remaining – she won't have time to get back to him."_

"Alright then, put five minutes back on the clock and activate the scrambler."

"_The scrambler sir? But that'll lessen the chances of escaping-"_

"I have a feeling these two work better under more action and pressure, not a sitting maze. Start the scrambler and put five minutes back on the clock."  
"_Alright then, crew team 1 out."_

The senior clipped the walkie-talkie back on his belt and crossed his arms staring at the blinking dots on the screen with the other seniors, smiling to himself as he could imagine the shock those two would be in …

* * *

Temari crossed the corner and nearly ran into the wall barring her way.

"F*ck!"

Temari kicked the wall and sighed. She leaned up against the wall and slid to the ground sitting there gasping for air. Her sides hurt and her feet were sore. She was drenched in her own sweat and she looked up at the sky wishing for a bath. A narrow strip of exposed blue was given to her as the surrounding towering walls reminded her of her captivity inside the maze. The clouds rolled by high above and the cool wind was rejected from her as the walls around her prevented any from reaching her and her sweaty skin. She sighed and glanced at the clock ticking down on her right at the wall. Less than two minutes. And Shikamaru hadn't called out to her yet.

"_At this rate we won't reach the checkpoint in time."_

Temari suddenly noticed the clock had changed; now it held seven minutes on the clock. What were the seniors doing … then the wall behind Temari shifted and suddenly spun away, making Temari scream and jump away, the walls around her moving in rapid speed as they unlocked from one another and began sliding across the ground and closing on the road she would have taken to get back to Shikamaru.

"_F*ck!"_

Now she knew why the seniors recommended them not to split up. Temari was forced to rush forward through the narrow gaps of shifting walls as the space she was previously in was boxed off. She danced past swinging walls and slid through narrow cracks, screaming for Shikamaru in rising panic, "F*ck, SHIKAMARU! WHERE ARE YOU!?"

She ran past a new set of walls breaking apart and shifting, she caught sight of black hair and skidded to a stop.

"Shikamaru!"

He turned bewildered as he caught sight of Temari through the narrowed slits of moving walls.

"Temari!"

She reached out to him and before they could grab hands, the walls came back together threatening to crush their hands in the process. Cursing Shikamaru pulled back his hand and pushed Temari's hand away from the walls, the two stunned as the walls crunched together, blocking completely. The shifting and moving of the walls ceased, the two separated by a thick wall and new roads behind them and around them to God knows where now …

"Shikamaru!"  
Temari pawed at the wall and desperately pounded on it.

"Temari! It's alright, I'm fine."

He growled as he placed a hand on the cold wall, oddly bitter against the wall that separated them.

Temari cried out in despair on the other side exclaiming, "Shikamaru! What are we going to do? At this rate we'll never get out of the maze and we'll be eliminated!"

"Oh hush you! Let me think…"  
"There isn't time to think! We have only seven minutes left-"  
"Seven? I thought there was two."  
"Weird enough, once the walls started f*cking with us, the seniors thought considerately enough to throw in five more I suppose."  
"Great …"

Shikamaru leaned against the wall and bit his thumb in thought. The maze had now shifted so the roads they had searched were useless at this point; the exit would have to be found differently. Shikamaru started pacing the narrow road and cursed as his foot caught in a hole in the ground – a hole?

"Temari! Can you check if there's a hole in the ground near the wall on your side?"  
"A hole? Why …"  
Temari found the hole hidden by tall grass and exclaimed in surprise, "Hey, there's one here-"

Shikamaru observed the hole and tested the depth and width as he slid his hand first, then his shoulder, then his head. He pulled back out satisfied that it was wide enough for one to slip through and he called out to her, "There's a hole under the wall, I can slide through and reach you, how many roads are open on your side?"  
"Only two!"

"Better than mine over here; I have five open here. Not chancing those."

"Then get your ass over here Nara!"

Shikamaru slid into the deep hole and gasped at the dark hole as he clawed his way through the hole. Temari blinked in surprise seeing a hand claw out from the grass stalks. She grabbed the hand and pulled, Shikamaru hefted himself up and out of the hole grunting as he kicked his foot lose from the hole. When he got out Temari threw her arms around him and gasped, "God, never thought I'd be so glad to see your face you ass!"

Shikamaru blinked in surprise but accepted the stinging remark as he patted her awkwardly on the back.

"Uh, thanks."

She helped him to his feet and he brushed dirt from his pants smirking at her as he added, "Now who's so smart about splitting up now-?"  
"Hey! Who knew the maze moved!? Don't blame me for not knowing the functions of this messed up maze!"

She pouted and he laughed, he then grabbed her hand and linked his fingers in hers again and felt relieved to have her hand back in his.

"Alright then, now it's your turn."  
"My turn to what?"  
He smiled at her as he gently pulled her towards the maze pathways.

"Well this time, it's your turn to trust me."

* * *

Ino and Kiba knocked on the senior's door and the senior pulled it open as he eyed the two curiously.

"Well finally. Get inside you two."

The short senior ushered the two inside before closing the door again. The short senior hurried behind the curtain and 'woke' the senior there.

"Hey! You sleeping ass, get up; the juniors you met are here to see you."

Tayuya opened her eyes and gleefully jumped up from the bed.

"Finally! Where are they?!"  
Tayuya stumbled in her dress and pulled back the curtain, grinning at the two juniors as she crossed her arms.

"Hey now! Both of you came this time!"  
Ino rolled her eyes, "Oh whatever Tayuya, just tell me; how are Shikamaru and Temari doing?"  
Tayuya smiled a sigh as she dreamily touched her lips.

"Ah~, the boy with amazing lips, mmm, wish I could have another one of those right now. Anyway, just like you asked, I had Shorty here tempt them into the Compatibility Challenge. You can imagine right now they're already taking the first challenge."  
Ino laughed evilly, wringing her hands together as she darkly cackled, "Yes, yes, yes! Soon enough, those two … those two will hook up before the end of the year and my side of the bet will be in place! Yes, yes, yes!"

Kiba sighed as he scratched the back of his head groaning, "You and your evil ways. Anyway, can I just get what I asked for since I took that last photo; seriously, crouching in the bushes taking that picture of him kissing her on the forehead – sweet shot, but still, my part of the deal was done, now give me yours."  
Ino sighed, nodding and shaking her head, "I know Kiba, I know. Here, I managed to convince the principal to allow you to bring your dog to school-"  
"Sweet!"

Kiba snatched the approved form from Ino's hand and kissed it.

"Awesome! Now Akamaru can go everywhere with me! Thanks Ino, really, this is great!"  
He grabbed Ino by her waist and swung her around once, making Ino smack him on the head.

"Geez! Don't do that to me! It was only part of the deal, dog breath!"  
"Nonetheless, I'm really happy that you did this for me."  
"For the deal."  
"Whatever Ino."

The short senior coughed and drew their attention to him again.

"Now then, if I may ask, anything else you want us to do? You did after all pay us for our services …"  
Ino crossed her arms and smiled, "Yeah, go to the seniors running this research game of theirs and ask to make sure that those two go through only the best of their challenges; I want that girl to realize a few things from her experience with Shikamaru."

Tayuya smacked Ino on the back roughly, "That's the spirit of a true matchmaker! Hey, Shorty, pull up the head senior on your phone – time for him to repay a long waited favor for me!"

Tayuya cackled as the Shorty pulled out his phone to call the senior as Ino and Kiba left, a satisfied air floating around the two as they cheerfully left the seniors to the rest of Ino's plans to hook up Temari to Shikamaru.

Kiba folded the paper in his pocket and asked Ino, "Say, why are you so determined to get the bet in your favor? The downside of you losing the bet can't be that bad can it?"  
Ino eyed Kiba and remembered what Temari had her swear on, "_If I win, you have to go out with Kiba."_

"Uh, for reasons I'm not willing to tell."  
Kiba eyed Ino before shrugging, "Fine then, what do you get if your plan works?"  
"Well, let's see; she promised me a public kiss with Shikamaru, a three day shopping trip with HER buying everything, and a future IOU in case I needed something from her. What girl wouldn't want THAT?!"  
Ino laughed with a glint of determination in her eyes.

"Though I feel bad for doing this to Shikamaru, as good as friends as we are, I have no choice but to do this. Not only is it for the bet, those two look so perfect together! I MUST do what I must to get those two together!"

Kiba sighed, shaking his head as he muttered, "Girls … natural born match makers with a false sense of obligation …"

* * *

"…you want to do what now?"  
Shikamaru pointed at the wall and repeated, "Climb over."

Temari crossed her arms and frowned, "Isn't that cheating?"  
"Think about it Temari; if the seniors knew it'd be twice as difficult to get us out of here, they would've given us more than five minutes with the maze a new puzzle – I'd dare say that the whole point IS to have us 'cheat' our way through it. Having gone through nine of ten roads before the maze scrambled, I'd say there wasn't a real exit to escape through. Plus that hole I just went through? Can't have been a coincidence; they gave us these chances to think past the maze, and one of them I'm betting is to climb over this wall."  
Temari kept her arms crossed and questioned, "And why THIS wall specifically?"  
"It's lower than the other walls."  
"So?"  
"So, it's easier to climb over."  
"But does that mean we escape the maze?"  
"If the others are too tall to climb over, obviously this means this is the exit."  
"Why can't we just go find the hole that'll take us out?"  
He stared at her.  
"You really want to go and find a hole when we can just climb over this wall and get it over with faster?"

Temari threw her hands in the air and stormed towards him, "Why are you being complicated-"

"Temari, didn't I just ask you before to trust me? Now trust me on this; this wall is our exit."

She frowned as he held out his hand to her, his knee propped up against the wall as a foot hold.

"Trust me Temari."

Silence fell between the two as the clock ticked down the last two minutes. Growling Temari grudgingly grabbed his hand and he smiled in triumph. She steadied one hand on his shoulder and the other against the wall; his hands supported her waist as she stepped on his leg and reached for the wall's edge. He then grabbed her waist and boosted her higher up the wall and she successfully grabbed the edge and hefted herself up and over. She sat on the edge of the wall and looked over and gasped.

"What do you see?"  
"The checkpoint!"  
"Get me over."

"Alright, give me your hand."

She reached down and he grabbed her hand as she pulled him up the wall and he pulled himself up after her successfully. They jumped off the wall and rolled in the grass to break their fall. They got up and ran for the checkpoint. While they ran he grinned at Temari teasingly, "See? Didn't I tell you to trust me-?"  
"Shut up Nara! I get it, I get it!"  
"Never doubt the Nara."  
"Clam it."

Shikamaru laughed in the refreshing wind, glad to escape the walls of the maze and they ran up the boardwalk and passed through the gate, the flags raised as crew team one confirmed their success. As confetti spewed into the air and bright red flares spat into the sky, the crew members then closed off the first checkpoint and shooed them on.

"Alright, alright! Great work you two!"  
"Now go to the second check point; you have thirty minutes!"  
"Watch out of moving floor boards!"  
"Try not to fall in the mud!"

"A tip; keep a keen eye, don't get separated, and don't EVER stop moving!"

"Go, go, go, go, go! "  
Shikamaru and Temari bewilderedly were shoved forward, nearly tipped over the raised platform as Shikamaru grabbed Temari's arm from falling over.

"Sh*t …"  
Before them was a large dug out pit stretching for quite some distance. In the ditch's place was filled with fresh rolling mud and before them from this platform to the other across the way, hung dangling ropes, nets, and shifting and trapdoor walkways.

"I'm going to die …"

"Just don't do anything stupid-"  
"SHIKAMARU!"

He took a careless step on the boardwalk and cursed as the board split open to reveal a trapdoor, before he could tumble down to the mud, Temari grabbed his arm and hauled him out of the trapdoor on safer ground. But with the mechanically wired floorboards which was programmed to sense movement, the boards moved instantly in chaotic patterns. Floorboards jerked, slid around, bucked at their feet, and broke into trapdoors, Temari guided Shikamaru through the complex chaos of the bridge screaming commands, "JUMP, MOVE LEFT, JUMP AGAIN! NO, NO, NO, MOVE RIGHT, RIGHT, RIGHT! THAT'S IT! NOW KEEP MOVING WITH ME!"  
Temari moved backwards with Shikamaru's hands in her as she took a step back towards solid concrete that separated them from the boardwalk and the nets beyond, Shikamaru noticed something on the concrete and risked pulling Temari backwards.

"Sh*t, OIL!"

Temari gave him a puzzled look as she planted her foot on the concrete and it was already too late; sure enough, the concrete was painted over with unnoticeable oil and she yelped as she lost her footing. Remembering what happened with the glass earlier during the festival, Shikamaru dove towards her and yanked her into his arms, protecting her head from the concrete they fell on his side as he winced as the concrete connected with his unprotected shoulder. Temari froze in his arms as they slid to a stop, Shikamaru laid on his back gasping while looking up at the sky as he could feel the pain blossom in his shoulder. Temari scrambled among the oiled concrete before placing a hand on his injured shoulder.

"Oh my God, Shikamaru? Your shoulder - how is your shoulder-"

"It's fine- LOOK OUT!"

He grabbed her wrist and pulled her towards him as a log tied to a supported pole came spiraling towards her; intentionally placed there meant for the purpose to knock over slipping couples to the mud below, but it harmlessly swung over them. But that was the least of their concerns now.  
"_Shouldn't have pulled her down …"_

He stared at her in surprise when her lips collided with his. Shocking Temari just as badly as he was. Flustering and blushing madly, the two tried to pull away but with the oil, it was nearly impossible. It eventually grew drastically embarrassing from there; whenever they pulled away, they would fall back together and so it made it look like they were giving one another multiple kisses.

"Holy crap, sorry I'll-"  
Kiss.  
"Look, look, don't move, I'll move –"  
Kiss.

"Hold still, I'll move-"  
Kiss.

"Temari, stop-"  
Kiss.

He had enough. He grabbed her shoulders to stop her from moving, still on his back as he winced against her lips where his shoulder stung from the sharp, sudden movement. She froze still sprawled on top of him as he squeezed her arms as if to tell her to don't move in a silent message. Hissing behind her lips, Shikamaru propped himself up on his elbows, lips still locked as he attempted to plant his hand behind him so he could jerk his head away, but his hand slipped and he fell back down, the situation growing unbearable for the two. Temari started to move and Shikamaru stopped her again, glaring at her from beneath her, _don't f*cking move, damn it!_

He kicked at the edge of the concrete to scrape away the oil that was there and managed to plant a firm foothold on the exposed concrete as he then pushed himself away from Temari, his face sliding away from hers. He gasped, free from their awkward kiss as she, still being on top of him, rested her head against his chest gasping with embarrassment.

"Oh my God …"

Shikamaru stayed silent as Temari murmured words to herself as she buried her face in his jacket. Both were terribly embarrassed. This was shameful. To slip on oil and shamefully kiss – not what Shikamaru had in mind with Temari today. He had planned to spend an evening at the festival teasing with her as she had to pay for him for everything he bought; now he was paying dearly for that with his pride.

"Forget about it, forget about it! Just see if you get to the nets!"

The two slipped and scrambled in the oil as the grabbed the edge of the concrete floor where oil wasn't present as they pulled themselves across the slick surface of the concrete to where the nets were fastened to the edge by nails. The net was loose and extremely large as it was stretched from here to the towering wall on the other side where the mud ended; perhaps it was the end to checkpoint two?

Temari fingered her lips still blushing as she could practically still feel his lips on hers; rough, but soft – he really had great lips to kiss. That must've been why Tayuya enjoyed it so much when Temari forced him to kiss her in attempts to tease him. Temari found herself secretly longing for a little more. Which she rebuked herself for as she clawed for the net; anything to bring her mind off their sprawl.

"Let's get this over with."

The two finally escaped the clutches of the oil and clung to the nets that threatened to twist and fling them over; the two forced to balance the net equally between them by staying close together at the center to keep the sides from rolling out to buck them off. They crawled across the net in silence, suspended over the mud stories high as they focused on crossing the net. Shikamaru wanted to die right there and then; he couldn't stop blushing as he could easily remember how she had came in contact with him. The moment her lips touched his, it sparked something inside him that had made him want to just grab her and soak into that kiss. Hormones? Please God, let it be the hormones. There was no way he was in love with her, what he felt earlier couldn't have been the longing for more. It was just his hormones overreacting; nothing more, nothing less. The two fought their internal consciousness as they reached the wall at the end of the nets and they grabbed the edge and hauled themselves over. They expected to land on solid ground at the checkpoint gate, but found themselves submerged in water.

"Oh my God, what the-"  
The two were dipped in the water as the water chaotically drowned them and pulled them downstream by a strong current. They broke to the surface gasping for air as they grabbed one another to keep from getting separated, forgetting about their previous sprawl as they spiraled down the rapid waterways with water blinding them and occasionally drowning them from time to time.

Coughing and drenched in water, Temari clung to Shikamaru for dear life as she buried her face in his shoulder, her lips moving against his jacket as she murmured curses to herself for taking the stupid course in the first place. Shikamaru simply clung to her, wishing he could just kick his feet out and stop the water from taking them downstream – wherever they were being taken. Finally with a final surge, the water came behind them in a gaping wave and crashed over them, forcing them to roll away and sprawl on solid ground; pure solid ground where the two could rest and gasp in each other's arms for a moment. Shikamaru spat water to the side as he weakly got to his knees hacking water that he had unwillingly swallowed as Temari wrung water from her shirt while coughing exhaustedly.

"Oh my God … oh my God …"

Temari sighed as she sagged under the weight of her water soaked clothes, silently cursing at the entire game as the members of crew two cheered from the gates with more cursed confetti and red flares.

"Great work!"  
"Best sprawl ever!"  
"Praise the stupid blundering fool who suggested we put oil on that concrete!"  
"I just gotta see that recording again!"

"Loved it, loved it absolutely!"

Temari glared at the seniors with death in her eyes as she growled darkly, "Recording …?"  
The senior laughed as he held up a finger to make a point, "Didn't anyone tell you? We have cameras recording you two while you take the course – it's for us to make sure you're not cheating or anything. Plus in case we have to come in on an emergency to pull you out. We were about to when you two were all over each other in the oil, non-couple eh? You two must be good liars too!"

Temari blushed and screamed, "WE'RE NOT A COUPLE! THAT WAS AN ACCIDENT!"

The seniors howled as they shook their heads while they came over to put towels over the two, "Say what you will girly, we know your secret. Nobody kisses like that and can't possibly be a couple."  
Shikamaru wiped water and spit from his lips and glared at the snickering senior.

"It's not possible for you people to have made such an extreme obstacle course that threatens to drown us in mud and or water with towering walkways, nets, bridges – this entire obstacle course must be rigged to f*ck with us!"

The seniors grinned as they helped them to their feet at the end of phase one.

"Oh you're right on that buddy; we made sure this obstacle course messes around with couples like you two."

* * *

The seniors had Temari and Shikamaru spent a well deserved rest after phase one. Having changed into dry clothes and even had something to eat; the two were refreshed once again though still sore from falling and tumbling.

Shikamaru gingerly touched his shoulder and winced as it stung under his touch.

"Ouch!"

He rubbed his sore shoulder and hissed in pain as the bruised shoulder stung when he touched it. The things he did for that girl … troublesome indeed.

Someone entered his tent and he quickly pulled a shirt over his head demanding, "Who is it?"  
Temari eyed Shikamaru with raised eyebrows as she faced Shikamaru with a medical kit in his hands. He eyed her and found himself staring at her – had she always looked so good in red? He shook his head and sighed as he nodded to her, "Hi …"  
"Hi … "  
Temari came to sit awkwardly beside him on the emergency bed as she stared at his shoulder.

"I can imagine that it's bruised right now…"  
"I'll live."  
"Well I went through the trouble to ask the seniors to give you some medicine for the bruise and they were rude enough to tell me to do it myself after giving it to me-"  
"Don't bother, I'll be fine."

He stood to move away and she grabbed his arm and glared.

"I go through all the trouble to get you the medicine; at least be chivalrous enough to choke down your pride and let me just give you some ointment for your shoulder."

He opened his mouth to reject it again when she stood sliding her hand up his arm to his shoulder, squeezing his shoulder so he painfully was forced to sit back down; she opened up the kit and commanded, "Shirt off."

He eyed her before growling a curse; he took off his shirt and looked away as she turned him around to eye his shoulder.

"God, it's so discolored and you're saying it's okay?!"

"It doesn't hurt THAT bad-"  
"Stop being such a pride stuffed idiot and just admit it."

"… okay, it hurts a little …"  
Temari sighed, rubbing ointment over the bruise as she rolled her eyes, she somehow knew that, that was all she could get out of him when it came to admitting something. After spreading the ointment she then placed a patch over it to prevent the ointment from rubbing away when he put his shirt back on and stepped back wiping her hands on her pants.

"There. You can put your shirt back on."

He already did so before she could finish her sentence, he watched her put away the ointment back in the box and muttered, "Thanks …"

She glanced at him for a moment before murmuring back, "You're welcome …"

She stood there for a moment with the box in her hands as she mustered the confidence to add, "Also … back there at the oiled concrete … thanks for uh, saving me there twice from … uh, an ugly fate with mud …"

She fingered her lips as she added again, "And sorry about this …"  
He eyed her as he retorted, "Why are you sorry about that? I was the one who pulled you down."  
"Yeah, but you got your shoulder hurt when you grabbed me from falling over."  
"I had to; otherwise you'd have a concussion by now."

"Not only that I was about to be flung over the edge by a log-"  
"Which was why I pulled you down. I should be saying sorry for forcing you to accidently … come in contact."

A blush was shared between the two as they looked away momentarily, her hands tightening on the medical kit as Shikamaru twisted his own in the bed sheets of the emergency bed. He was the first to turn to look back at her as he started saying, "Anyway, it's all in the past so let's forget about it – Temari?"  
He squinted at her lips and blinked in surprise.

"Your lip …"

Temari blinked at him as she took an uncomfortable step back.

"Uh, what about my lip …"  
"It's bleeding."

Temari fingered her lips and felt blood. She laughed nervously, "Oh, it must've been when we … "

He sighed as he stood reaching for her chin; he lifted her head to his as he critically eyed the cut.

"God … did I do that?"

"No, no, just forget about, it was just a little cut, no big deal-"  
He took the medical kit from her hands and rummaged through to find the ointment again while muttering sarcastically, "Geez … you'd worry about me but not yourself? You take good care of yourself don't you …?"

She kept silent as he uncapped the ointment and squeezed some out on his fingertip. He raised her head with his other hand as he looked down at her muttering, "Now hold still …"

He dabbed at her lip with the ointment, wiping away the blood and spreading the ointment over the cut in her bottom lip. She was tempted to pull back and run before he saw her blushing, but he kept his hand on her chin and his finger on her lip spreading the ointment which stopped her from running. He kept his finger on her lip even long after he had done his work. She looked up at him and he felt his stomach flip staring back at her teal eyes.  
"Shikamaru..?"

He dropped his finger from her lip but kept his other hand on her chin, he stared at her before opening his mouth to speak, "Temari I-"

The seniors leaped inside throwing confetti and screaming, "ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT~! WHO'S READY FOR PHASE TWO?"

Shikamaru dropped his hand from Temari's face and stiffly marched towards them with a dry sarcastic reply, "Oh sure, sure, I'm so totally pumped for more death."

He walked past the seniors who looked puzzled between him and Temari who still stood there sighing as she fingered her lip again, then she shrugged and marched after Shikamaru muttering to herself as the seniors slowly recognized the awkwardness between the two before smiling.

"Ah~, I see what's going on here. My fellow friends; we are witnessing the beautiful start of love; call in the head senior, we've got a fresh new report for him that I'm sure he'll love to hear!"

* * *

**Ah ... I don't know how I feel about this chapter. When I read it over and over, I feel like I like it but then I feel like I just killed it. Ergh, I really need to work on improving my ability to write stories; this is shameful of me to write something with bad grammar and hard to follow story line that is in desperate need of something more. Anyway, sorry if it irks you guys to death. Other than that, I hoped that over all, you guys have enjoyed the chapter and I hope you guys are looking forward to chapter 8! :) Keep reading, reviewing, and if you have time (knowing that your time is so preciously spent) please be so kind and take the polls on my profile page. It'd help me a lot with future stories to come. Thank you and I'll see you guys in chapter 8!**

***For specific dates or general predictions of when chapter updates will come, check out my profile page and read the last chunk of my rambling to see the "LATEST UPDATES" section. Hopefully it'll calm you guys from being tempted to claw my eyes out for being so sluggishly slow. Please don't hate me ... T^T**


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